Happy New Year! Wishing you all health, love & joy in every moment & may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet.
I’ve spent fantastic quality time with loved ones over break & today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022! pic.twitter.com/e688iSO2d4
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 4, 2022
I think he should have refused the exemption unless everyone who applied was given one.
I understand why he wouldn’t do that. But it would have been the right thing to do.
Novak Djokovic will defend his Australian Open title after revealing he has secured a medical exemption for the tournament and he is on his way to Melbourne.
The exemption ends weeks of speculation about the possibility of Djokovic being unable to compete in the opening grand slam tournament of 2022 since he had refused to divulge his vaccination status and had previously expressed doubt about taking a Covid vaccine.
All Australian Open participants must either be fully vaccinated or apply for and secure a medical exemption in order to enter Victoria without undertaking the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
“Happy New Year, everybody! Wishing you all health, love, and happiness in every present moment and may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet,” Djokovic wrote on social media.
“I’ve spent fantastic quality time with my loved ones over the break and today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022 !!”
Djokovic’s announcement has garnered mixed responses from some of his peers. “If it was me that wasn’t vaccinated I wouldn’t be getting an exemption,” said Jamie Murray at the ATP Cup. “But well done to him for getting clear to come to Australia and compete.”
Alex de Minaur, Australia’s No 1 men’s player, said that he hopes that other players who applied for exemptions received the same treatment as Djokovic. “I just think it’s just very interesting, that’s all I’m going to say,” De Minaur responded. “But, hey, it is what it is. I just hope that the other players that I heard were cases as well, [I hope] they got exemptions.”
Liam Broady, who is Great Britain’s ATP Cup captain in Sydney, said: “You have to trust that he does have a valid reason for the medical exemption.”
…
Despite successful medical exemptions for Djokovic and some others, not all players were able to make the trip to Melbourne.
Natalia Vikhlyantseva, a Russian player ranked 195th, announced her withdrawal from the Australian Open last month since she had been vaccinated with Sputnik V, which was developed in her home country but is not recognised by the Australian government.
According to the official dictates of The Science, there is no such thing as a “medical exemption,” because the coronavirus vaccine is the perfect medicine and it cannot possibly hurt anyone no matter what.
That’s the official position of virtually every institution and government.
Australians have been denied for two years, but this bloke – who’s taken extraordinary liberties in the face of the coronavirus – gets his exemption. Novak Djokovic is an all-time great, but he ain’t essential.
— Andy Maher (@AndyMaherDFA) January 4, 2022
It will be *VERY* interesting to see how people in Melbourne, the city with the world's longest COVID-19 lockdown, will react to Novak Djokovic playing at the Australian Open.
— Nikolaus Fink (@NikolausFink) January 4, 2022
After everything Victorians have been through, Novak Djokovic getting a vaccine exemption is nothing short of a kick in the guts. All those lockdowns, all that suffering. Seriously? #auspol
— Dr Kate Miller (@DrKate_Miller) January 4, 2022
Great to see Novak Djokovic will play in the Australian Open following an exemption permission. It’s tennis players who will get us through this pandemic.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) January 4, 2022
Novak Djokovic is about to find out what it’s like to be despised by all of Australia. We’re all nice and laid back until we’re not. #GetVaccinated
— Karen Sweeney (@karenlsweeney) January 4, 2022
Why are these cucks angry at Djokovic? It’s not him who locked them in their houses over a flu.
This is Djokovic’s fault, goy