Australian Open boss says Djokovic will return in 2023

A week after Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia and consequently dropped from the first Grand Slam of the season, the tournament director, Craig Tiley confirmed that he has the Serb for the 2023 edition in a series of interviews he gave to local media. “He will come back, yes. Obviously, there has to be competition in the first place, but that will be his intention. At the end of the day he is number one in the world, he loves the Australian Open,” said the leader, who avoided answering questions about the performance of the Aussie Federation in Djokovic’s case and said that he will not do so until it is carried out. a review of what happened around the Balkan visa issue. “Then we’ll be able to answer that more specifically.”

The point is that the deportation resolutions carry with them a sanction of three years of prohibition of entry to the country, although exceptions can be made in special cases. Nevertheless, Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, insists that to enter his state it is necessary to be vaccinated. “My position is very clear. If you want to come here, get vaccinated. It’s quite simple,” he said. “Rafa (Nadal) was right. Everything could have been avoided if he had been vaccinated, and that guy (Djokovic) thought he’s bigger than the tournament. And it is not. In fact, it is being celebrated and with great success,” he argued.

Tiley dismissed reports pointing to a possible lawsuit by Djokovic against the government for six million Australian dollars. (almost four million euros in exchange) and also defended himself against criticism of the tournament’s COVID protocols. Alexander Zverev said that the players do not undergo routine PCR tests and that is why it was not known if there were any infected yet.n at the tournament. “Our intention is to do the right thing and to be safe. That is not going to change,” he said. “As I said, every year we will analyze it and we can see what can be done differently or not”, he added.