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World number one Djokovic, level on 20 Grand Slam titles with
Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, declined to reveal his vaccination
status again this week and said he was unsure if he would defend
his Australian Open crown as authorities work out COVID-19
restrictions for the tournament.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said he opposed special
arrangements to let unvaccinated athletes compete in the state,
which is scheduled to host the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in
January.
"On the question of vaccination, no," he told a media briefing.
"(The virus) doesn't care what your tennis ranking is, or how
many Grand Slams you've won. It's completely irrelevant. You
need to be vaccinated to keep yourself safe and to keep others
safe."
Tennis Australia, which organises the Grand Slam, declined to
comment.
Victoria, which is due to exit a near three-month lockdown this
week, recently included professional athletes in a vaccine
mandate covering millions of "authorised workers", without
clarifying whether it applied to athletes from overseas or other
Australian states.
Andrews suggested the mandate covered international athletes,
too.
"Professional sport is part of those (items on the) authorised
worker list and they have to be double-dose vaccinated," he
said.
Andrews said Victoria's stance could be a "moot point", given
the federal government might not issue visas to unvaccinated
athletes.
"I don't think an unvaccinated tennis player is going to get a
visa to come into this country and if they did get a visa they'd
probably have to quarantine for a couple of weeks," he added.
"I don't think that the person you indicated (Djokovic) or any
other tennis player, let's not personalise it ... or golfer or
Formula One driver will even get a visa to get here.
"If I'm wrong I'm sure the federal government will let you
know."
The federal government's home affairs department was not able to
provide immediate comment.
Australia's borders have been shut to non-residents through the
pandemic, although authorities have issued visas to athletes and
sports staff for major events, including the last Australian
Open in February.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would relax
border controls for residents and their overseas-based family
members from next month but international tourists and other
visa classes would have to wait longer.
Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, has been locked down
since August as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak of
the highly infectious Delta variant.
Restrictions for the city's 5 million people will be eased from
Friday when 70% of the adult population in Victoria is expected
to be fully vaccinated.
Unvaccinated people, however, will remain barred from sports
events along with restaurants, pubs and other parts of the
economy.
Andrews said the ban on unvaccinated fans may apply right
through to the 2022 Formula One Australian Grand Prix in April.
"This is here for a while .... We're not going to be essentially
encouraging people to not get vaccinated because they reckon
they can wait a few months or a few weeks," he said.
"You can't wait out coronavirus."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Himani Sarkar
and Richard Pullin)
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