Below, you’ll find a timeline that provides both background information and key events of the Novak Djoković Australian visa debacle of 2022. In many cases, I’ve linked photos, news articles, court filings, government publications, and the like to help detail what happened. Whenever possible, I opted for a primary source rather than media reports or commentary. The twelve days in January that Djoković was en route to or in Australia generated countless articles, columns, editorials, tv segments, blog posts, YouTube videos, podcast episodes, and tweets—on top of producing pages and pages of legal documents. Suffice it to say, I’ve found the latter files most useful in compiling a factual record.

Note: I consider Novak’s travel in the 2-3 months prior to his trip to Australia part of the relevant background information, particularly as covid testing protocols remained in place both at tournaments and at international borders in late 2021. Australia was the first country to which the professional tennis tour had traveled since its resumption from hiatus in August 2020 where covid vaccination was required for entry. No previous ATP, WTA, or ITF events had mandated players or their team members be vaccinated, though some had required attendees to show proof of vaccination before entering (e.g., the 2021 US Open). In fact, these public-health policies were generally set by host cities, states, or countries rather than the tournaments themselves. Further, as we witnessed during the 2021 Australian Open (where players, teams, & officials were able to enter the country despite the border being closed to non-residents) and the 2021 French Open (where a curfew was lifted to allow spectators to remain in the stands at Roland Garros for the duration of the semifinal between Djoković and Nadal), governments were willing to bend their rules &/or make exceptions to assist these sporting events in going forward.

2021

• 8/30 According to the New York Times, roughly 50% of tennis players on both tours had been vaccinated by the start of the US Open
• 9/13-10/25~ Novak Djoković (NĐ) took a break from the tour after the US Open, spending roughly 6 weeks at home in Serbia and traveling in neighboring ex-YU countries
• 10/5 80% of Australia’s 16+ population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine (57% fully vaccinated)
• 10/18 NĐ interview with Blic (largely about the Australian Open)
• 10/28-29~ NĐ training with Daniil Medvedev at Mouratoglou Academy in Biot, FRA
• 10/30-11/7 NĐ in Paris, FRA competing at the Rolex Paris Masters tournament
• 11/1 Australia begins to re-open international borders (as well as removing caps on the number of citizens & residents able to return from overseas each week)
• 11/10 90% of Australia’s 16+ population had received at least one dose of vaccine (82% fully vaccinated)
• 11/10-12/2 Letters between Tennis Australia (TA) CEO and Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley &/or TA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carolyn Broderick and various federal and Victorian health officials seeking clarity about vaccine-related entry requirements and medical exemptions for AO participants, as well as requesting federal authorities “review vaccination certificates/exemptions ahead of the 72-hour window… We would like to give players some comfort over a process to be followed to ensure any issues can be dealt with well in advance of their journey to Australia.” Of particular concern to TA were players with prior covid infections (both the unvaccinated and those who had received one dose of a vaccine before or since contracting covid): “The treatment of players who fall within one of these categories goes to the heart of the viability of the Australian Open,” Tiley wrote on 11/10.
• 11/15-11/21 NĐ plays ATP Finals in Turin, ITA
• 11/18 NĐ granted Australian “Temporary Activity” (subclass 408) visa
• 11/19 Craig Tiley confirms all players must be vaccinated to compete in the 2022 Australian Open; according to tour leaders, over 70% of top 300 WTA singles players and over 80% of top 100 ATP players had been vaccinated by season’s end
• 11/22-12/03 NĐ with Team Serbia at Davis Cup: late-November group stage in Innsbruck, AUT; early-December knockout stage in Madrid, ESP
• 11/26 Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) updates “expanded guidance on acute major medical conditions that warrant a temporary medical exemption relevant for COVID-19 vaccines”
• 12/04 NĐ returns to Belgrade, SRB
• 12/6 TA sends updated information to players about medical exemption criteria and application process
• 12/7 78% of Victorians of all ages have been fully vaccinated
• 12/10 TA deadline for players to submit application and supporting documentation for medical exemption review
• 12/14 ATAGI releases advice on the definition of fully vaccinated “for the purposes of people returning from overseas travel”; NĐ attends Red Star vs Barcelona basketball game at Aleksandar Nikolić (a.k.a. “Pionir”) Hall with Vašek Pospisil
• 12/15 94% of Australia’s 16+ population had received at least one dose of vaccine (90% fully vaccinated)
• 12/16 FC Barcelona announces positive covid test of player Nigel Hayes-Davis (with whom NĐ had taken photos at the game)*; NĐ takes rapid antigen test (negative) and submits PCR test (circa 1pm); NĐ attends event at Post Office museum; NĐ attends “Path of a Champion” Foundation event at Novak Tennis Center 6pm; positive PCR test result registered with the Institute for Public Health of Serbia (circa 8pm); *Though I assume neither that the Hayes-Davis announcement is what motivated NĐ to take a covid test on 12/16 nor that their brief interaction resulted in one or the other contracting covid, reports of covid cases among those in attendance at Pionir Hall was, according to NĐ, the key factor in his getting tested at this point in the off-season.
• 12/17 NĐ takes second rapid antigen test (negative); NĐ attends the Belgrade Tennis Association’s award ceremony for kids at Novak Tennis Center; NĐ learns of positive PCR test result (according to his 1/12/22 statement)
• 12/18 NĐ attends interview & photo-shoot with L’Equipe for their 2021 men’s Champion of World Champions award at Novak Tennis Center
• 12/22 NĐ negative PCR test (sample taken circa 2pm)
• 12/23 NĐ positive SARS-COV-2 RBD IgG test (i.e., an antibody test confirming a “recent or prior infection”)
• 12/28 TA’s independent expert panel approves NĐ medical exemption & passes application on to the Victorian government Department of Health panel; NĐ travels from Serbia to Spain
• 12/30 Dr. Carolyn Broderick writes letter confirming two panels approved NĐ’s application for medical exemption to vaccination; CZE player Renata Voráčová arrives in AUS
• 12/31 NĐ visits Soto Tennis Academy in Sotogrande, ESP

2022

• 1/1 NĐ’s agent submits Australian Travel Declaration (ATD); Home Affairs assesses & approves ATD, indicating that NĐ meets “the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia”; daily new confirmed covid cases in AUS exceeds 20,000 for the first time
• 1/2 Victorian State Government issues NĐ a Border Travel Permit for travel between Dubai, UAE and Melbourne, AUS
• 1/4 NĐ announces medical exemption on social media before flight from Spain to Dubai, where he transfers to an Emirates flight to Melbourne
• 1/5 PM TA holds press conference to explain the medical exemption process; Prime Minister Scott Morrison answers question about NĐ exemption; Home Minister Karen Andrews releases statement that “border rules apply to everyone”; and NĐ & team arrive at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport circa 11:30pm & “were asked to exit the plane before anyone else and were escorted to passport control”
• 1/6 Australian Border Force (ABF) officer questions NĐ overnight at airport, then cancels visa on the grounds that “Previous infection with COVID-19 is not considered a medical contraindication for COVID-19 vaccination in Australia,” citing section 116(1)(e)(i) of the Migration Act 1958 (i.e., “the Minister may cancel a visa if he or she is satisfied that: that. . . the presence of its holder in Australia is or may be, or would or might be, a risk to: (i) the health, safety or good order of the Australian community or a segment of the Australian community”), as well as the Biosecurity (Entry Requirements—Human Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential) Determination 2021; NĐ transferred to immigration detention hotel; NĐ lawyers Hall & Wilcox apply for remedy from Federal Circuit and Family Court (FCFC) re: visa decision and request interim relief (i.e., restraining Home Affairs Minister or her agents from removing NĐ from AUS until the issue is resolved)
• 1/6-7 Renata Voráčová detained by ABF & visa cancelled; CRO coach Filip Serdarušić visa cancelled (both had entered AUS with the same medical exemption as NĐ)
• 1/8 government lawyers apply for hearing to be pushed back two days (refused by Judge); The Age reports that “an official voluntarily [left] the country because they did not meet Australian government visa requirements”; through her lawyers, Voráčová negotiates a “bridging visa” and applies for review of the ABF decision (although she leaves AUS as a lawful non-citizen before it’s conducted)
• 1/10 Hearing before Judge Kelly of FCFC: NĐ vs Minister for Home Affairs; visa cancellation quashed before all grounds for legal challenge were addressed, with the government conceding that “the delegate’s decision to proceed with the interview and make a decision to cancel the applicant’s visa. . . was unreasonable [under the] circumstances”; NĐ released from detention; ATP issues a statement on the case, noting that “complications in recent days related to player entry into Australia have however highlighted the need for clearer understanding, communication and application of the rules.”
• 1/12 NĐ posts statement with details about his mid-December activities; WTA releases statement on Voráčová visa “complications”; daily new confirmed covid cases in AUS exceeds 100,000 for the first time
• 1/13 Australian Open draw ceremony
• 1/14 After 5:30pm AEDT on Friday, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke announces decision to use personal powers to cancel NĐ visa, once again with reference to section 116(1)(e)(i) of the Migration Act; this time, however, the government’s argument is not about the validity of NĐ’s medical exemption (i.e., his paperwork) or the risk he, as an unvaccinated person, may pose directly to other people’s health, but instead about the influence NĐ, “as a role model in the sporting and broader community,” might have (i.e., “that his presence in Australia may foster anti-vaccination sentiment,” leading to various negative outcomes on health and good order); through his lawyers, NĐ applies for judicial review of the Minister’s decision and is again granted interim relief pending resolution; Judge Kelly orders transfer of the case to Federal Court; NĐ returned to detention hotel
• 1/15 NĐ interviewed by Immigration Minister’s staff; in case management hearing, Justice O’Callahan confirms transfer of judicial review to Federal Court and sets proceeding for 1/16
• 1/16 Hearing before 3-member Federal Court panel (Justices Allsop, Besanko, & O’Callaghan): NĐ vs Minister for Immigration; justices to determine whether, in cancelling NĐ’s visa, the Immigration Minister acted within his legal powers; panel upholds Hawke’s decision; ATP releases statement on the visa cancellation; NĐ deported & 3-year re-entry ban imposed
• 1/17 main draw of the Australian Open begins
• 1/20 Federal Court panel releases reasons for NĐ judgment, emphasizing in their introduction that “an application for judicial review is one in which the judicial branch of government reviews, by reference to legality or lawfulness, the decision or decisions of the Executive branch of government, here in the form of a decision of the Minister. The Court does not consider the merits or wisdom of the decision; nor does it remake the decision. The task of the Court is to rule upon the lawfulness or legality of the decision by reference to the complaints made about it.”
• 1/24 ATAGI updates clinical guidance for vaccines, recommending “all people. . . to defer COVID-19 vaccination for 3 months after a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection” and decreasing “the time allowable for deferral of vaccination [i.e., temporary exemption] after prior SARS-CoV-2 infection to 4 months”
• 2/8 Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia (AATA) “sets aside the decision under review and substitutes a decision not to cancel” Renata Voráčová’s visa
• 2/21 Australian border opens to all vaccinated foreign travelers (quarantine only for inbound travelers from high-risk areas)
• 4/1 AATA Deputy President Jan Redfern, Head of the Migration & Refugee Division, releases written statement of decision and reasons in Voráčová case
• 4/15 Australian pre-flight covid test requirement for international arrivals dropped
• 5/21 Australian federal election
• 7/6 Australian vaccine requirement lifted for inbound travelers
• 11/17 Immigration Minister Andrew Giles releases a statement confirming his decision to revoke the January cancellation of NĐ’s visa

Although I have linked many legal documents above, there are even more. The complete court files (including hearing videos) are here:

• Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia: Novak Djokovic v Minister for Home Affairs

• Federal Court of Australia: Novak Djokovic v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs