Melbourne (CNN)Novak Djokovic will be re-arrested by Australian authorities on Saturday after his visa was revoked for the second time.
Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke issued a statement on Friday announcing the decision to revoke the tennis star’s visa after days of debate over whether the 34-year-old Serb should be expelled from Australia.
The world’s top male tennis player’s hopes of competing at the Australian Open and winning a record 21st Grand Slam now hang by a thread as his legal team fight to keep him in the country.
Djokovic’s case to remain in Australia will be heard in the country’s federal court on Saturday, after an emergency hearing before Federal and Family Court Judge Anthony Kelly on Friday. Australia’s federal court is a higher court than the court that Kelly presided over.
“Today I exercised my authority under Section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to annul Mr Novak Djokovic’s visa on grounds of health and good order, as it was in the public interest to do so,” Hawke said in a statement earlier on Friday.
“In making this decision I have carefully considered the information provided to me by the Home Office, the Australian Border Force (ABF) and Mr Djokovic. The Morrison Government is fully committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The decision comes four days after Judge Kelly ruled that Australian Border Force (ABF) officers had been “unreasonable” in canceling his original visa to enter Australia upon his arrival in the country on January 5. The judge ordered Djokovic’s release from immigration detention within 30 minutes.
The second cancellation is the latest twist in a saga that has made headlines around the world and put Australia’s Covid and immigration policies under scrutiny.
Under current Australian law All international arrivals must be vaccinated against Covid-19 – which Djokovic is not – unless they have a medical exemption.
Djokovic said he felt he could step in because of two independent bodies linked to Tennis Australia and the Victorian State Government had given him an exemption for contracting Covid-19 in December.
The federal government argued that under its rules, previous infection with Covid-19 was not a valid reason for an exemption.
Despite Monday’s verdict, the Immigration Secretary retained ministerial authority to personally intervene in the case and ultimately had the final say whether Djokovic will be allowed to stay, although his decision is open to appeal.
In his verdict, the judge noted that if Djokovic had been deported, he would have been banned from Australia for three years. In special cases, however, this can be deviated from.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the minister’s decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa-covered “victims” brought Australia during the pandemic.
In a statement, Morrison said “the pandemic has been incredibly difficult for every Australian but we have stuck together and saved lives and livelihoods”.
“Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic and they have a right to expect the outcome of those sacrifices to be protected,” he said. “That is what the Minister is doing today by taking these measures.”
Djokovic is to be arrested
Djokovic will be questioned by the ABF at 8 a.m. local time on Saturday (Friday 4 p.m. ET) at an undisclosed location “agreed upon by the parties” in the case.
At this point, Djokovic is formally arrested by two Border Patrol agents and escorted to his law office while his case is heard in federal court.
The location where Djokovic will be met by border guards will be kept secret to protect the tennis star and prevent “a media circus”.
“We have real concerns about security and a potential media circus,” Djokovic’s attorney, Nick Wood, told the court as he pleaded with Judge Kelly to allow Djokovic’s private surrender to border officials.
Novak Djokovic v Minister for Immigration, as the file is called, was officially transferred from the Federal Circuit Court to the Federal Court of Australia on Friday.
Wood told federal court that Hawke used his personal power to nullify Djokovic’s visa on the grounds that he would “raise anti-vax sentiment” should he remain in Australia, describing it as a “radically different approach” in the government’s argument.
How it came about
Djokovic arrived in Melbourne on January 5 and promptly had his visa to enter the country cancelled, with no valid reason as to why he could not be vaccinated against Covid-19.
He spent several nights in a Melbourne detention hotel, which also houses dozens of refugees – some of whom have been in immigration detention for more than eight years.
His lawyers challenged the decision and won the lawsuit on Monday, but questions have since surfaced about Djokovic’s behavior after he tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16.
In a statement released on social media on Wednesday, Djokovic admitted he did not immediately isolate himself after receiving a positive diagnosis – but has denied knowing he had the virus at several public events.
He also apologized for apparent misinformation on his Australia visa statement, specifically not having traveled in the 14 days prior to his arrival in the country. Photographs from this period appear to show him in both Spain and Serbia.
Djokovic said a member of his support team submitted the information and the omission was “human error”.
In the statement, Djokovic also admitted to conducting an interview and photoshoot with a French sports newspaper while Covid was positive, which he acknowledged was “misjudgment”.
The visa dispute and the decision to allow Djokovic – who has previously opposed Covid-19 vaccines and vaccination mandates – into the country comes at a time when the number of Covid-19 cases is skyrocketing.
On Friday, the state of Victoria – home to Melbourne, where the Australian Open is held – reported 34,836 cases, with a record 976 people hospitalized with Covid-19. This week, the country surpassed one million cases throughout the pandemic.
What else could come?
Maria Jockel, legal director of BDO Migration Services, said Djokovic’s lawyers had 28 days to make representations to the minister and explained why he should reverse his decision.
Despite his visa being canceled again, experts say it’s still possible Djokovic will be released on another visa to attend the Australian Open.
“If there is an incredible outcry about the world No. 1 tennis player being incarcerated during the Australian Open, perhaps the government would relent and grant him a bridging visa,” said Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Immigration Department.
A bridging visa would allow Djokovic to work – or in this case play – but the political implications of this decision are unclear as they appear to contradict the message that Djokovic poses a health risk to the Australian people.
Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said Friday the problem had a simple solution: “Just get vaccinated.”
“That’s the key… I tell that to every single Victorian. I did this. That’s what my kids did,” he said, adding the Australian Open is bigger than a player and the problem is much bigger than a person.
CNN Tennis Contributor Ben Rothenberg and CNN’s Angus Watson, Jessie Yeung and Ivana Kottasová contributed.
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