Novak Djokovic has won his appeal against being denied a visa to enter Australia.
Djokovic has been detained at an immigration facility in Melbourne since Thursday morning after his visa was cancelled following scrutiny of the medical exemption for the Covid vaccine he had secured to travel to the Australian Open, the first tennis major of the year.
The Serbian’s legal team filed papers to appeal against border control’s original decision confirming that Djokovic tested positive for Covid last month and recovered. He used that as grounds in applying for a medical exemption to Australia’s strict vaccination rules.
And following a lengthy hearing on Monday, Judge Anthony Kelly quashed the visa cancellation and ordered the Australian Government to pay legal costs and release Djokovic from detention within half an hour.
The decision means Djokovic, a nine-time champion in Melbourne, now has the chance to defend his 2021 title although government counsel Christopher Tran notified the court that the minister for immigration, Alex Hawke will now consider whether to exercise a…
