Novak Djokovic has won an appeal against a decision to refuse him a visa ahead of Australian Open | Tennis News

Novak Djokovic has been held in isolation since his original visa was cancelled on arrival in Australia on Thursday; the world No 1 had said he had flown to Australia with an “exemption” ahead of defending his men’s singles title at the Australian Open

Novak Djokovic has won an appeal against a decision to refuse him a visa in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia ahead of the Australian Open.

Judge Anthony Kelly has quashed the visa cancellation, and ordered the Australian Government to pay legal costs and release Djokovic from detention within half an hour.

Government counsel Christopher Tran notified the court that the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs – not the minister who made the original visa cancellation – will now consider whether to exercise a personal power of cancellation of Djokovic’s visa.

More to follow…

Djokovic’s Aussie Open debacle: What’s happened?

Djokovic flew to Australia with a ‘vaccine exemption’ and arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday, but was ultimately denied entry into the country after nine hours at the airport.

The Serb’s visa was one that did not allow for medical exemptions and was cancelled, after which he was moved to hotel quarantine as his team launched an appeal – this appeal has been adjourned until Monday morning at 10am local time (Sunday 11pm GMT).

The Australian Home Affairs department appealed for the hearing to be delayed until Wednesday, but their request was rejected on Sunday by Judge Anthony Kelly.

On Sunday, the govt filled documents in defence of their decision to deny Djokovic entry. “This is because there is no such thing as an assurance of entry by a non-citizen into Australia. Rather, there are criteria and conditions for entry, and reasons for refusal or cancellation of a visa,” the government’s filing said.