MELBOURNE: Australia said on Friday it will detain Novak Djokovic this weekend after again stripping him of his visa, in a dramatic setback to the tennis world number one’s goal of winning a record 21st Grand Slam.

As time slips away before the Australian Open starts on Monday, the nine-time title holder heard in an emergency hearing that he will be in immigration detention from Saturday morning — not on the Melbourne Park tennis courts.

The megastar’s bid to avoid deportation will be heard by Australia’s Federal Court at 10:15 am on Saturday (2315 GMT Friday).

The government has agreed not to deport the 34-year-old Serbian tennis ace until the hearing is over, barrister Stephen Lloyd told an emergency late-night session of the federal circuit court.

But Djokovic is expected to attend government offices at 8:00 am Saturday (2100 GMT Friday) to be placed in detention.

He would be allowed out of detention to follow online court hearing at his solicitors’ offices, but only under the supervision of Australian Border Force officers, the barrister said.

It is unclear clear if Djokovic will choose to stay and fight the case if he believes he is unable to compete in the Australian Open.

Australia’s conservative government, defeated once in the courts, invoked extraordinary executive powers to rip up his visa again, this time on public interest grounds.

The player’s barrister Nick Wood said the government had argued that Djokovic’s presence would stir anti-vaccine sentiment in Australia, which is fighting a surge of infections by the Omicron variant.

Djokovic, an avowed Covid-19 vaccine sceptic, is the tournament’s top seed and had been practising on the Melbourne Park courts just hours before Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s bombshell decision was announced.

The government is “firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Hawke said in a statement.

He cited “health and good order grounds” for the decision and said “it was in the public interest to do so”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed the decision: “Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected.” The visa cancellation effectively means Djokovic would be barred from obtaining a new Australian visa for three years, except under exceptional circumstances. In Belgrade, his compatriots reacted with shock to the news that his visa had been cancelled again.

“To say that a high-level sportsman like Novak is a danger to the health of Australians is just absurd, it’s a scandal,” said 28-year-old local government employee Petar Stojanovic.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2022