Update: Novak Djokovic to face immediate ARREST and DETENTION if THIS happens!

Novak Djokovic

The sporting world is stunned by Australian Immigration minister Alex Hawke’s decision to deport World No.1 Novak Djokovic from Australia once again. Djokovic’s visa is cancelled for the second time in less than 10 days which means that as of now, he won’t be participating in the 2022 Australian Open.

Since the last 2 days, it was speculated that the Australian government is building a strong case to deport Djokovic but things took a turn when Djokovic’s name was included in the Australian Open draw as the top seed. However earlier today, the Immigration minister released a statement announcing that Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled taking all recent resurfaced information into account.

BREAKING:

Alex Hawke, the Australian Minister for Immigration, has cancelled Novak Djokovic's Australian visa "on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so."

This is effectively a re-deportation order for the unvaccinated nine-time #AusOpen champion. pic.twitter.com/2P611AbUiw
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 14, 2022

It is also believed that Djokovic’s legal team anticipated a day before that the Serb may get deported and hence were ready to challenge the decision legally. They want to appeal as soon as possible so that the hearing could take place over the weekend and decision be made by Sunday. The Australian Open main draw will commence from Monday and Djokovic would want to get things in place before that.

Will Djokovic be arrested with immediate effect?

At the moment, Djokovic still isn’t removed from the Australian Open draw. This will be the case until Djokovic’s team responds to Hawke’s decision. Broadly, they have three options- first, Djokovic accepts the decision and gets on a plane to leave Australia. In that case, Djokovic won’t have a chance to defend his Australian Open title.

Second, he challenges the decision immediately, asking for a judicial review of the minister’s decision. If he wins the challenge, he’ll get his visa reinstated once again and will play the Australian Open or he’ll have to leave the country if he fails.

Third, he appeals and wins the case but then the government decided to appeal against him. Then there would have to be a decision about whether he’s in or out of immigration detention and whether he gets to play in the Australian Open with that pending- which will be very interesting to see how that pans out.

But until his legal team doesn’t appeal or he himself decides to leave the country, he faces immediate detention and may even be arrested.

Also read: BREAKING: Immigration minister Alex Hawke cancels Novak Djokovic’s Australian visa for a second time

Tags: Novak Djokovic

#About the Author

Lakshya Chopra

(2709 Articles Published)

Lakshya Chopra handles day-to-day operations at FirstSportz and is a seasoned writer who has covered various sports in the last few years. An engineer by profession, his passion for sports has driven him closer to the media industry. He has been working with FirstSportz for over four years. He initially led the tennis team for two years before switching to NFL. Having written over 2500 articles for the organization, he currently leads the Business Development and Growth team. From Rafael Nadal's prime to Novak Djokovic's rise to Patrick Mahomes' dominance- he has seen it all.

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Update: Novak Djokovic to face immediate ARREST and DETENTION if THIS happens!

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