Men’s Tennis Number One Novak Djokovic has been deported from Australia. The Serb lost his last-ditch legal challenge to prevent a second visa cancelation by the country’s Immigration Minister. Djokovic departed on Emirates flight EK409 from Melbourne to Dubai on Sunday night.
Trip cut short
Novak Djokovic officially left Australian shores at 10:51 PM local time, flying Emirates’ 777 service from Melbourne to Dubai. While his final destination has not been revealed, it will likely be Belgrade, Serbia, his hometown.
The reigning Australian Open champion was set to play the first round of the Grand Slam on Monday but saw his visa canceled a second time on Saturday. After winning a legal challenge against his original cancelation by Border Force, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his powers to cancel the visa a second time, dooming Djokovic’s chances of staying in the country.
The star tried to appeal the decision before the High Court but failed, resulting in his deportation. Djokovic boarded EK409 a few hours after the court’s ruling at 22:51, ending the 11-day firestorm in Australia.
At the time of writing, the flight is just over the Arabian Sea and scheduled to land in Dubai at 05:14 AM local time, 13 hours and 20 minutes later. The service is flown by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER, registered A6-ECV, according to RadarBox.com.
Unvaccinated
It’s no secret that Men’s Number One has been in the spotlight due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Australian federal government requires all visa holders to be fully vaccinated to enter the country. However, Djokovic received an exemption from the Victorian state government and Tennis Australia.
The public was enraged at Djokovic’s exemption, demanding that he be deported. Since federal law still required the tennis player to be vaccinated to enter, even after reportedly having COVID less than a month ago, the government chose to send the title-holder home.
Not on the airline
As we’d discussed during Djokovic’s first visa cancelation, Emirates does not bear the cost of sending the unvaccinated star back home. Since Djokovic had a valid visa and other needed documents when entering the country, the airline is not at fault if Border Force cancels a visa for any other reasons.
This means the Australian government will cover the cost of deportation, although Djokovic likely paid for his own ticket back home. For now, the tennis star has a long flight home to decode the events of the last 11 days.
With vaccination becoming crucial to travel globally, unvaccinated passengers face more and more barriers every day. Only a handful of countries allow unvaccinated foreigners to enter their shores even with a hard quarantine.
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