Novak Djokovic leaves Australia hours after deportation order

Djokovic is the world's number one-ranked player at this time, and was poised to possibly win his 21st major title in singles tennis, which would be a new world record. However, he wound up having to board a flight for Dubai instead, putting those dreams on hold.

According to NBC News, there also exists the possibility that he may be banned from entering Australia for the next three years, which would naturally entail missing the next three Australian Opens.

Djokovic is unvaccinated, and had obtained a rare medical exemption which had allowed him to obtain the visa and fly to Australia, but things changed quickly when he landed at the airport on Jan 6 2022.

He was interrogated for hours by officials, and promptly taken to a quarantine facility. They eventually found a technicality by which they could revoke his visa and deport him.

"I hope that we can all now focus on the game and tournament I love," an "extremely disappointed" Djokovic was quoted as saying.

"It’s not Novak that is humiliated. "I think Australian authorities humiliated themselves," commented Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.