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      Novak Djokovic Is Detained Awaiting Hearing on Australian Visa

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      Novak Djokovic was taken into custody on Saturday by immigration officials as he fights the Australian government’s efforts to deport him.Court documents filed by his lawyers confirmed that as of 9:19 a.m. in Melbourne he was being held in immigration detention as a court decides whether he can be deported after entering Australia without being vaccinated.A judge had ruled that Djokovic would be allowed to stay at his residence until a Saturday morning meeting with immigration officials, after which he was taken into custody and escorted to the office of his attorneys. It was unclear where he was held after that.Border officers are expected to escort him again to his attorney’s offices on Sunday morning for the hearing in which both sides will lay out their case.The judge has ruled that Djokovic cannot be deported until after the court appeal is over. It is unclear whether he would voluntarily leave the country. His lawyers did not return emails seeking comment on Saturday.Djokovic’s lawyers, worried about the media storm around his case, have sought to keep his location secret. A judge ruled that both Djokovic’s attorneys and the immigration department had to agree upon his whereabouts.On Friday, Djokovic’s lawyers unsuccessfully argued that he should be kept out of immigration detention for the duration of the appeal. More

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      If Djokovic Goes, What Happens to the Australian Open Bracket?

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      “Limbo,” the former Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee had said this week, “is the worst scenario for the tournament.”Yet for days, the uncertainty of Novak Djokovic’s status had hung over the event. The decision on Friday to cancel his visa for the second time could yield some clarity. His plan to appeal that ruling will only extend it.But coming when it did, a day after Djokovic was placed in the No. 1 spot in the men’s draw, the cancellation of his visa — if it is upheld — could force a reshuffling of the men’s bracket.If Djokovic were to be kicked out of Australia, the draw for the men’s singles tournament would have to be reconfigured. According to Grand Slam rules, the No. 5 seed, Andrey Rublev, would move into Djokovic’s vacant slot in the draw. Rublev’s place at No. 5 would then be filled by another seed as part of a series of cascading changes.But if Djokovic appeals and delays his departure, or if his withdrawal were to come after the order of play for opening day has been released, his place would be taken by a so-called lucky loser: a player who had lost in the qualifying tournament and then been drawn by lot to receive a newly open spot.And instead of having Djokovic as the favorite to win his record 10th title, and 21st Grand Slam singles championship over all, the focus would shift to three of his most likely rivals for the trophy: the U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev; the Olympic champion Alexander Zverev; and the 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.None of it, of course, is ideal for the Open.“If Novak was going to be kicked out,” McNamee said, “the time to do it was before the draw.” More

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      With Djokovic’s Status in Limbo, So Is the Australian Open

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      Thursday brought no resolution in the star’s duel with the government, even as the tournament’s draw placed him (for now) at the top of the bracket.MELBOURNE, Australia — On the outside courts, spectators were seeking refuge and cool drinks on Thursday as temperatures spiked to over 90 degrees. Players exchanged shots and grunts in qualifying matches, hustling to make the most of their long journeys.But however familiar the sun-drenched scene, this already has been an Australian Open like no other, even though the main event does not begin until Monday.All story lines, all prologue, have been thoroughly overshadowed by Novak Djokovic’s duel with the Australian government over whether he will be allowed to remain in the country and chase a 10th Australian Open singles title.Thursday brought no resolution: only more speculation and the administration of the Australian Open draw, which despite a delay of more than an hour was ultimately conducted smoothly, with Djokovic placed in his now-familiar spot at the top of the bracket.Although Alex Hawke, the Australian immigration minister, has the authority to revoke Djokovic’s visa and order his deportation, Hawke has yet to say whether he will make that bold move. For now, Djokovic is scheduled to face Miomir Kecmanovic, a much younger Serbian compatriot, in the first round and could face Tommy Paul, a rising if unseeded American, in the second round.“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Brad Stine, Paul’s coach. “It’s obviously not good in so many different ways for the Australian Open or for our sport.”The Australian Open referee Wayne McKewen, center, and the tournament’s director, Craig Tiley, left, at the men’s draw on Thursday.Pool photo by Mark BakerIt was also avoidable. Djokovic is one of only a few top 100 players who have chosen not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and his decision to stick to that path, while so many of his peers have made a different choice, helped lay the groundwork for the standoff in Melbourne.Unless there is some significant medical risk that he has yet to make public, Djokovic’s anti-vaccination stance seems a triumph of self-interest over the greater good and has put him and his sport in a tight corner. Unvaccinated, he required a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open, and the state government of Victoria and Tennis Australia, which runs the Australian Open, provided that exemption on the basis of a recent case of Covid-19.The Australian federal government, which controls the nation’s borders, found that insufficient. It canceled Djokovic’s visa upon arrival last week and placed him in detention, only to see that decision overturned by a federal court on procedural grounds on Monday.Liberated, Djokovic has been training at Melbourne Park, where he practiced again on Thursday in the heat. But he has weakened his own case considerably this week, confirming that after testing positive for the coronavirus on Dec. 16, instead of self-isolating, he met with the French journalist Franck Ramella on Dec. 18 in Serbia. Djokovic explained that he did not want to disappoint Ramella, but Ramella wrote in his newspaper, L’Equipe, that Djokovic made no mention of his positive test during their meeting in Belgrade.Djokovic also claimed that his agent incorrectly filled out his Australian arrival documents, inadvertently checking a box that indicated Djokovic had not traveled internationally in the 14 days before his arrival in Australia when he had, it appears, been in Spain and Serbia.Those missteps could be grounds for Hawke to cancel Djokovic’s visa anew, and the Spanish foreign ministry denied published reports that it was investigating whether Djokovic illegally entered Spain despite being unvaccinated.Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, right, had little to say about Djokovic’s case at a news conference on Thursday.Lukas Coch/EPA, via ShutterstockBut for now, Djokovic is in the Australian Open draw, and the men’s tournament is in limbo.“Limbo is the worst scenario for the tournament,” said Paul McNamee, a former Australian Open tournament director.If Djokovic were to be kicked out at this stage, the draw would have to be reconfigured. According to Grand Slam rules, the No. 5 seed, Andrey Rublev, would move into Djokovic’s vacant slot in the draw. But if Djokovic’s withdrawal were to come after the order of play for opening day has been released, he would be replaced by a so-called lucky loser: a player who had lost in the qualifying tournament and then been drawn by lot to receive a newly open spot.In McNamee’s view, “if Novak was going to be kicked out, the time to do it was before the draw.”Grand Slam draws certainly have been revised before. Andy Murray, initially seeded second at the 2017 U.S. Open, withdrew with a hip injury after the draw had been completed.The Novak Djokovic Standoff With AustraliaCard 1 of 4A vaccine exemption question. More

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      Novak Djokovic Tested Positive: A Timeline of What Happened Next

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      If a tennis star knew he was positive for the coronavirus, why did he keep making public appearances without a mask?In an interview room at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne, an Australian immigration officer sat down across from the tennis star Novak Djokovic.The officer started with a warning.“I am now going to caution you,” the officer said, according to a public transcript both sides have agreed is accurate, “that if you provide false or forged documents or false or misleading information you can be prosecuted under Australian laws.”Even before his plane touched down in Melbourne last Wednesday night, Djokovic’s application for a visa to play in next week’s Australian Open was under scrutiny, and questions swirled about whether he would be allowed into the country. The answer, at least initially, was no. Australia, which requires all foreign visitors to be vaccinated, but grants exemptions in limited cases, canceled Djokovic’s visa after his airport interview, only to have a judge reinstate it on Monday on procedural grounds.“This is his greatest victory, greater than all the Grand Slams that he has won,” his mother, Dijana, said at a news conference on Monday in Belgrade, Serbia.Novak Djokovic trained Tuesday at Melbourne Park, days before the start of the Australian Open.Scott Barbour/Agence France-Presse, via Tennis Australia/Afp Via Getty ImagesNow, as Australia’s top immigration official considers rejecting Djokovic’s visa again and its prime minister calculates the political cost of the fight, published reports and Djokovic’s own social media posts have raised questions about the validity of his visa paperwork and his actions in the days around Dec. 16, when, by his account, he learned he had tested positive for the coronavirus.Even the positive test result, which is at the heart of the medical exemption that Djokovic needed to obtain to play in the Australian Open, has been cast into doubt by a published report.On Monday, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that it had scanned the unique computer code attached to Djokovic’s test result — which was included in court filings related to his visa appeal — and found that it initially reported the test was negative for the virus. But just over an hour later, when Der Spiegel journalists and others checked the code again, the linked webpage said Djokovic’s test was positive. That was still the case on Tuesday morning.Djokovic has not commented on the merits of his case, and his family declined to address specific questions about his activities on Monday, when his brother Djordje declared at the news conference in Serbia that “truth and justice came to the light” when Novak Djokovic was released from detention with his visa restored.Djokovic’s agent and spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.The confusion about Djokovic’s test result, though, only renewed questions about his actions on the day of the test and the week that followed.If Djokovic tested positive Dec. 16, then his actions in the ensuing days — when he should have been isolating — could have endangered the health and safety of dozens of people. On the day of his test and the two that followed, for example, Djokovic’s own social media postings and contemporaneous accounts show him repeatedly appearing at public events without a mask and around children and strangers even after he had recorded a positive test.What has Djokovic said?To obtain a visa to enter Australia, Djokovic and his lawyers submitted documents that said he had tested positive for the coronavirus on Dec. 16. He cited that positive result when he was interviewed by Australia Border Force officials upon his arrival in Melbourne.Djokovic produced the Dec. 16 test result “unprompted,” the Australians said in a court filing. A transcript of his interview, which was recorded, included the following exchange:INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Have you ever had COVID?DJOKOVIC: Yes.INTERVIEWER: So when did you?DJOKOVIC: I had COVID twice, I had COVID in June 2020 and I had COVID recently in — I was tested positive — PCR — 16th of December 2021.INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Sorry what was the date? 16th of December?DJOKOVIC: 16th of December 2021, I have the documents as well to confirm that if you want I can provide — just as a —INTERVIEWER: Thank you. I’ll just make a photocopy of those documents —The filing also includes the timing of the test, which was collected about 1 p.m. Dec. 16, and of a positive result returned seven hours later.What about the medical exemption?The positive result was used to justify Djokovic’s application for a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open, which requires all tournament participants to be vaccinated but which granted multiple exemptions to the rule.On Jan. 4, Djokovic announced on his Instagram account that he had received the exemption he needed. Alongside a smiling photo, he said he was headed to Australia.It was what he had done in the days after his positive test, though, that now threatened to cause him problems.A public figure, in public.On Dec. 16, the day Djokovic sought a test for the virus, Djokovic was honored with a stamp by the Serbian postal service and toured its facility. In photos from the event, Djokovic appears with the acting director of Serbia’s postal service, Zoran Dordevic. Neither Djokovic nor Dordevic is masked in a photo, or in other pictures from the event.Djokovic also took part in an hourlong panel discussion that day at a tennis center that bears his name. The topic? “The role and establishment of authority in the development of character and discipline.” In a video of the event posted on YouTube, neither Djokovic nor any of the other panelists wears a mask.A day later, Djokovic reportedly appeared at an event to honor youth tennis players at the tennis center that bears his name. None of the dozens of people in a group photo from the ceremony, including Djokovic, whose positive test result was confirmed a night earlier, wore a mask.The next day, Dec. 18, Djokovic took part in a photo shoot with the French sports publication L’Equipe. The newspaper has published the photos repeatedly in its coverage of his visa dispute.Serbia’s prime minister, Ana Brnabic, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that if Djokovic attended events after learning he was positive that he would have “clearly violated the rules.”The Novak Djokovic Standoff with AustraliaCard 1 of 4A vaccine exemption question. More

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      Novak Djokovic’s Family ‘Grateful’ After Tennis Star Wins Appeal

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      Whether it’s reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, Times Video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world.Whether it’s reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, Times Video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world. More

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      Australia Court Hears Novak Djokovic's Appeal

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      His lawyer argued that the tennis star had met all government requirements before flying to the country to compete in the Australian Open.SYDNEY, Australia — A lawyer for Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis star, argued in an Australian court on Monday that the government had erred in canceling a visa for Djokovic because he had complied with all the government’s requirements even though he has not been vaccinated for Covid-19.The hearing came five days after Djokovic was detained at an airport after arriving on a flight from Dubai to compete at the Australian Open.Djokovic landed late Wednesday with a visa and a vaccination exemption to play in the tournament, which begins Jan. 17, but border officials canceled the visa with the support of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The authorities said that Djokovic did not qualify for an exemption from the requirement that everyone entering the country be fully vaccinated.The drawn-out conflict over the world’s top men’s tennis player, who is seeking to win a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title, landed at the start of an election year in Australia and kicked off another round of international debate over vaccine politics.With the Omicron variant pushing Covid case numbers to new heights both in Australia and the rest of the world, Djokovic’s detention pits those who argue that vaccination is more important than ever for preventing serious illness against those who insist that no one should be forced into inoculation.On multiple occasions, Djokovic has stated his opposition to vaccine mandates, saying that vaccination is a private and personal decision. He had not, however, revealed until last week whether he had been vaccinated.In a court filing on Saturday, Djokovic’s lawyers said that the tennis star tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-December, and that the Australian government had erred in canceling his visa over the vaccine requirement.The Novak Djokovic Standoff with AustraliaWhat Happened: The No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player was refused entry to Australia over questions about a Covid vaccine exemption.Understand the Standoff: Mr. Djokovic, a vaccine skeptic, was granted an exemption that would allow him to defend his Australian Open title. Then the federal government stepped in.A Difficult Moment in Australia: Barring the tennis star offers a chance to change the subject as an election looms and cases are at record highs.Exemption Skepticism: Here’s how the tennis world initially reacted to the news that Djokovic was granted an exemption.On Monday, Anthony Kelly, the federal court judge overseeing Djokovic’s appeal, noted during the hearing that his visa application had included a medical exemption from a physician, supported by an independent panel convened by the Victoria state government.“The point I’m somewhat agitated about is, what more could this man have done?” Judge Kelly said.But the federal government’s lawyers, in their filing, said that past Covid-19 infections were not a valid reason to defer immunization against the virus.Under vaccine guidelines issued in December by the country’s chief medical body, people are expected to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after recovering from “acute major medical illness,” and, the government argued, “the evidence is that the applicant has recovered.”It is not clear if or when Djokovic was ill. On Dec. 16, the day he said he tested positive, he appeared at a live-streamed public event. The following day, he appeared at an awards ceremony for junior players, where photographs showed that he was not wearing a mask.What is clear, even to many Australians who say that the rules should be applied to everyone, including sports superstars, is that they are embarrassed by the whole affair. Australia’s entry process for the tournament, and international travel generally during the pandemic, has been marred by confusion, dysfunction and political point-scoring that all add up to an image of incompetence.Djokovic inadvertently joined the fray on Tuesday, when he announced on Twitter that he had received a medical exemption from the requirement that all people entering Australia be vaccinated or quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.In a statement later that day, Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, explained that players seeking an exemption had to pass muster with two panels of medical experts. The process included the redaction of personal information to ensure privacy.Communications between national health officials and Tennis Australia, and between Tennis Australia and players, have revealed contradictory messages about whether unvaccinated people infected with the coronavirus during the past six months would receive an automatic medical exemption.Federal officials wrote to Tiley in November to indicate that testing positive for the virus during the past six months would not be sufficient to gain automatic entry into the country without vaccination. But letters leaked to Australian news outlets showed that an adviser to Australia’s federal chief health officer had also told Tennis Australia that the state of Victoria, where the tournament is being held, was responsible for assessing exemptions.On Dec. 2, Brett Sutton, the chief health officer in Victoria, wrote to Tennis Australia: “Anyone with a history of recent Covid-19 infection (defined as within 6 months) and who can provide appropriate evidence of this medical history, is exempt from quarantine obligations upon arrival in Victoria from overseas.”Five days later, Tennis Australia passed on the message to players.Djokovic landed at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday. After a nearly 10-hour standoff at the airport, border officials said he would have to leave the country. He was held in a room overnight over the validity of his visa and questions about the evidence supporting his medical exemption.His team filed a legal challenge to the ruling on Thursday. A judge said Djokovic would be allowed to remain in Australia at a hotel that houses refugees at least until Monday as his lawyers awaited a hearing.By that point, the decision had already become political. Australian leaders have a long history of winning elections with tough talk on border enforcement, despite the country’s harsh treatment of asylum seekers in offshore detention centers, and Mr. Morrison has followed a predictable script.Facing a tough re-election campaign as the economy starts to seize up from a surge of absences caused by an Omicron outbreak and a shortage of testing capacity, he pounced on the decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa, trying to frame it as a clear-cut case of law and order.“Rules are rules,” he said, adding, “Our government has strong form when it comes to securing our borders, and I don’t think anybody doubts that.”Critics of Australia’s immigration policies said they were dismayed, but not surprised. The hotel where Djokovic is staying holds dozens of refugees, including some who have been detained for nearly a decade.“As a country, we have been shown over time to be very aggressive in enforcing immigration policy,” said Steven Hamilton, a former Australian Treasury official who teaches economics at George Washington University. “People overseas should view this through that prism rather than as a health measure. It has nothing to do with health.”On Friday, border officials told the Czech doubles player Renata Voracova that she, too, would have to leave the country, even though she had played matches in tuneup tournaments last week.Voracova, who was given a medical exemption because she has had Covid-19 during the past six months, was moved to the same hotel as Djokovic, but opted to leave the country voluntarily rather than fight the deportation ruling. More

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      Novak Djokovic and Fellow Star Vaccine Skeptics Are Increasingly Scorned

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      The tennis star is the latest target of a public outcry against vaccine skeptics and stars wanting special treatment. Denied entry to Australia, he awaits a hearing Monday on his deportation.In a less dangerous time, a more forgiving public viewed Novak Djokovic’s nontraditional views of science and health as the quirky characteristics of a hyperactive seeker with strongly held beliefs about everything from sports to spirituality.He has sat inside a pressurized, egg-shaped pod during major tournaments, believing it would improve circulation, boost his red-blood cell production and rid his muscles of lactic acid. He supported the concept that prayer and faith could purify toxic water. Djokovic and other high-profile athletes with unorthodox approaches to health were a source of bemusement for a public that, for better or for worse, has long treated them as role models. These quirks as seemingly harmless as a bowl of quarterback Tom Brady’s avocado ice cream.Not anymore.Djokovic, an outspoken skeptic of vaccines, will spend the weekend detained in a hotel room in Melbourne, Australia, waiting out a legal appeal and expected hearing on Monday in hopes of gaining entry to the country following a public and political outcry over the medical exemption he received to play in the Australian Open without being vaccinated. The Australian Border Force rejected his paperwork supporting that exemption on Wednesday.The pitched battle over what was supposed to be his quest for a record 10th Australian Open men’s singles championship has highlighted a new dynamic for stars like Djokovic. The latest surge of coronavirus cases and the ongoing struggle to exit the pandemic have shifted public perceptions: Athletes once viewed favorably as iconoclasts are now encountering pushback when they want to play by different rules than everyone else.“The general public continues to respond positively if an athlete is speaking out on topics that make a difference in society and make peoples lives better,” said Michael Lynch, the former director of sports marketing for Visa and a longtime consultant to the sports industry. “But if someone takes a position that put peoples’ lives at risk, then they are going to have very negative reaction.”The fame that comes with athletic success has provided Djokovic and other top athletes who oppose the coronavirus vaccines, like the N.F.L. quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the star basketball player Kyrie Irving, with platforms to promote causes they believed in and to collect millions of dollars to promote products. But in recent months, their high profiles have become a liability as their behavior and their views supported misinformation and put public safety at risk.Djokovic after winning the Australian Open last year.Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesFor sports organizations and leagues, the stakes are high. For more than a decade, access to social media has given sports stars the ability to become more outspoken and impactful than ever. As long as what they say has not been offensive or polarizing, they provided free, mostly positive publicity for their sports, their causes and their own brands.The vaccination issue has changed the equation for sports, whose return in 2020 was viewed positively when they modeled safe behavior, such as mask wearing, playing before sparse crowds or no one at all, and participating in regular testing. The behavior and outspokenness of Djokovic, Rodgers, Irving and others against vaccines has jeopardized that good will, and organizations are now tightening their rules to play defense.The N.C.A.A. said on Thursday that, in many instances, it would not consider players or coaches “fully vaccinated” unless they had also received a booster shot.The Novak Djokovic Standoff with AustraliaWhat Happened: The No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player was refused entry to Australia over questions about a Covid vaccine exemption.Understand the Standoff: Mr. Djokovic, a vaccine skeptic, was granted an exemption that would allow him to defend his Australian Open title. Then the federal government stepped in.A Difficult Moment in Australia: Barring the tennis star offers a chance to change the subject as an election looms and cases are at record highs.Exemption Skepticism: Here’s how the tennis world initially reacted to the news that Djokovic was granted an exemption.Although the guidance is not binding on schools and conferences, it is influential, especially with the N.C.A.A.-run Division I basketball tournaments scheduled to begin in March.“You’re allowed to have your own beliefs, but once those beliefs start to impact other people, that is where things begin to get a little dodgy,” said Patrick McEnroe, the former professional tennis player who is now a commentator for ESPN.That dynamic came to a head in Australia on Wednesday when federal border police detained Djokovic at a Melbourne airport.Djokovic, a Serb who has won 20 Grand Slam tournament singles championships, had flown to Australia to defend his title in the Australian Open following the announcement that he had received a medical exemption from receiving a vaccine for an undisclosed reason. The exemption came from two panels of medical experts working on behalf of the organization that stages the tournament and the government of Victoria, the state that includes the tournament site, Melbourne. But while Djokovic was en route to Australia from Dubai, the public and some politicians began to voice their anger that Djokovic, the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player, had seemingly received unjustified special treatment.Roughly 80 percent of Australians have received at least one dose of a vaccination. Australians have endured some of the most stringent prohibitions to prevent the spread of the virus, including lockdowns that lasted hundreds of days and strict limits on travel. With the country averaging roughly 30,000 new cases a day, Australians were no longer willing to tolerate an outspoken critic of vaccines getting what seemed like a questionable special pass.Border officials, with the support of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other top federal officials, subsequently rejected Djokovic’s efforts to enter Australia on the grounds that his medical exemption was not valid.Michael Payne, the former chief marketing officer for the International Olympic Committee, said Djokovic had gotten “caught in political power play between different government departments who should have told him upfront, ‘no vaccine, no play.’”Perhaps, but Djokovic also could have avoided his troubles by simply getting vaccinated, as hundreds of millions of people have done during the past 12 months, either because they wanted to follow public health guidance or because employers or governments required it.Same for Irving, the Nets guard who has steadfastly refused to get vaccinated. Irving’s refusal has made him ineligible to play in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, because New York City requires people working indoors to be vaccinated.Kyrie Irving on the bench in his first game back with the Nets after being away from the team because he is not vaccinated.Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesThe Nets had kept him off their roster for the first two months of the season. Then, as their losses mounted, the team opted to essentially make him a part-time employee who will play only in arenas in cities that don’t prohibit unvaccinated people from working indoors.He scored 22 points Wednesday night in his first game of the season against the Indiana Pacers, but he will continue to be a symbol of everything the N.B.A. has tried to avoid during the pandemic: being seen as a potential danger to the public. And that public has dwindling patience for anyone who may be hindering efforts to end the pandemic.Meanwhile, Rodgers, who is a folk hero in the Midwest, has the Green Bay Packers one win away from securing the top seed in the N.F.C. for the playoffs, which begin next week. Rodgers was criticized and ridiculed in November, when he tested positive for the coronavirus after months of making misleading statements about whether he was vaccinated. He also violated N.F.L. rules for unvaccinated players, including not wearing a mask while he was speaking with journalists. He missed a game while isolating and recovering from his illness. The N.F.L. fined the Packers $300,000 for enabling his behavior.Rodgers explained his decision to not get vaccinated by saying he had read hundreds of pages of studies and received treatments to prevent infection, treatments that scientists have either debunked or that have not proved effective, including a veterinary drug. He quickly became an object of widespread scorn then blamed cancel culture for his treatment.The star vaccine resistors do have their supporters. Djokovic’s family on Thursday held rallies in Belgrade, where his father, Srdjan, accused Morrison, the Australian prime minister, of holding his son “captive” for his beliefs and trampling on all of Serbia, where Djokovic is a hallowed treasure.He also read a message that he said was from Djokovic: “God sees everything. Moral and ethics as the greatest ideals are the shining stars towards spiritual ascension. My grace is spiritual and theirs is material wealth.”Djokovic’s chief rival, Rafael Nadal, who is in Australia ahead of playing in the Open, offered a less-than-sympathetic take on the dispute Thursday.“In some way I feel sorry for him,” said Nadal, who has long supported vaccine efforts. “But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision.”Alan Blinder contributed reporting. More

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      Novak Djokovic Collides With Australia’s Covid Fight

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      Barring the tennis star from entering the country offers a chance to change the subject as an election looms and coronavirus cases are at record highs.MELBOURNE, Australia — When Australia’s prime minister explained on Thursday why his government had barred Novak Djokovic, the men’s tennis superstar, from entering the country, he described it as “simply a matter of following the rules” requiring coronavirus vaccinations for incoming travelers.“People are put on planes and turned back all the time,” the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said.But Mr. Djokovic, who had a visa to travel to Australia and a vaccination exemption to compete in the Australian Open, collided not just with the country’s tough border restrictions after arriving at a Melbourne airport. He also found himself at the center of a highly charged moment in Australia’s fight against the coronavirus.With an election on the horizon, a sharp shift in pandemic strategy — from “Covid-zero” to “living with the virus” — has put Mr. Morrison’s government under intense pressure. Cases have surged to once unimaginable heights, pushing the country’s testing system to the limit and raising anxiety among a population that has already endured long lockdowns.After nearly two years of suppressing the virus, the Australian authorities began to change tack late last year as vaccination rates reached ambitious thresholds. Harsh restrictions that once kept people from traveling between states or to other countries, or from even leaving their homes, have been replaced by adages about “personal responsibility.”Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open last year. Dismissive toward the pandemic, he has emerged as professional tennis’s most prominent vaccine skeptic.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe government was stepping back, however, just as the Omicron variant began to circulate. The country passed 10,000 new daily cases for the first time on Dec. 27, and the daily caseload has since surged to over 60,000.Deaths and hospitalizations have so far remained relatively stable. But the country’s testing system, devised to trace and suppress small outbreaks, has been overwhelmed by the explosion of cases, with reports of residents lining up for upward of six hours to get PCR tests and waiting nearly a week for results.Shortages of rapid antigen tests have left pharmacy and supermarket shelves bare, and there are concerns about hospital capacity amid reports that some coronavirus-positive nurses have been called back to work because of staffing gaps.All of that has left little sympathy in Australia for Mr. Djokovic, who has been dismissive toward the pandemic and emerged as professional tennis’s most prominent vaccine skeptic.That is particularly true in Melbourne, where the Australian Open is held, and where residents have endured a total of 256 days of lockdown, in part to spare the rest of Australia from outbreaks. Unvaccinated Melburnians are still barred from some activities, and those wishing to watch the Australian Open must be vaccinated.Melbourne last month. Australia passed 10,000 new daily Covid cases for the first time on Dec. 27, and the daily caseload has since surged to over 60,000.Diego Fedele/Getty Images“Against this background of community anxiety and in the context of a public fatigued by extended coronavirus lockdowns and scrambling to access vaccine booster shots,” said Paul Strangio, a politics professor at Monash University in Melbourne, it was inevitable that news of Mr. Djokovic’s vaccination exemption “was going to provoke howls of outrage.”For Mr. Morrison, a conservative who is looking to extend his tenure as prime minister after winning an election upset in 2019, the Djokovic case offers a chance to change the subject. After days of harsh criticism over his government’s failure to secure adequate supplies of at-home tests and its reluctance to provide them at no charge, he is now championing the country’s strong defense of its borders to safeguard the population.Mr. Morrison has appeared to embrace the decision to turn Mr. Djokovic away at the border as his coalition is trailing in public polls, with the main opposition party lashing him over the shortfalls in rapid antigen tests.“I think the government, under pressure, was looking to make a decision that was broadly popular and which would consume the attention of those watching federal politics,” said Mark Kenny, an expert in politics at the Australian National University.“Up until this decision, the overwhelming political issue was rapid antigen tests, and suddenly all the attention swings to this dramatic decision,” Professor Kenny added.Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision to bar Mr. Djokovic from entering the country was “simply a matter of following the rules.”Lukas Coch/EPA, via ShutterstockThere is also a less flattering light in which to view the baffling turn of events that led Mr. Djokovic to be questioned for hours by border officials before being sent to hotel quarantine pending a legal appeal scheduled for early next week.The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to KnowCard 1 of 6The global surge. 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