Novak Djokovic’s mother: Australia ‘keeping him as a prisoner’

The trials and tribulations of Novak Djokovic in Australia proceed to be surreal.

Djokovic has been confined to a Melbourne resort because the nation’s authorities, late Wednesday, denied him entrance to the nation, overriding the medical exemption to the vaccine mandate that had been granted to him by the Australian Open and native officers. His attorneys are interesting the choice.

“I really feel horrible since yesterday that they're holding him as a prisoner. It’s not honest. It’s not human. I hope that he'll win,” Djokovic’s mom, Dijana, informed the Related Press after talking with him briefly by phone from Belgrade.

“Horrible, horrible lodging. It’s just a few small immigration resort, if it’s [a] resort in any respect.”

The Park Resort in Melbourne, the place Djokovic has been held, got here below worldwide criticism as a illness “incubator” months earlier than his keep there.

Novak Djokovic had his visa canceled upon touchdown in Australia on Wednesday.

AFP by way of Getty Photos

An article revealed in The Guardian in October described a scene through which refugees and asylum seekers shared a typical kitchen space. Home windows within the constructing have been sealed shut, that means the air recirculated. Over 20 individuals — practically half of the visitors there in late October — contracted COVID-19.

Novak Djokovic’s mom Dijana speaks throughout a press convention because the participant is combating his visa cancellation and pending deportation in an Australian Federal Courtroom

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Novak Djokovic’s (2L-R) mom Diana, his father Srdjan and brother Djordje maintain a press convention in Belgrade, Serbia.

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“Everyone may be very drained, everybody may be very indignant,” Iraqi refugee Salah Mustafa informed the outlet. “We're feeling like animals, like we're in a cage. They [the Australian government] are mocking us … they don’t care.”

A supporter of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic holds up a placard on the resort the place the tennis champion is reported to be staying in Melbourne.

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Australia has had strict COVID-19 restrictions, from masks to lockdowns to vaccine mandates, all through the pandemic.

Novak Djokovic stands at a sales space of the Australian Border Drive on the airport in Melbourne, Australia

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Protesters have supported refugees held on the Melbourne Park Resort the place Novak Djokovic is staying proper now.

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Djokovic has repeatedly declined to reveal whether or not he's vaccinated for COVID-19.

The stakes are excessive for Djokovic if he should miss the Australian Open. He has gained the event 9 occasions, together with the previous three years. He's presently tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for many main victories of all time, 20.