tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/novak-djokovic-17115/articlesNovak Djokovic – The Conversation2023-07-18T16:23:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2099352023-07-18T16:23:38Z2023-07-18T16:23:38ZCarlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon win explained by a sports psychologist<p>Between 2003 and 2022 there have only been four men’s singles winners of Wimbledon. You need to go back to 2002 when Australian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQuMtCRKaK0">Lleyton Hewitt</a> won the title to find a name other than the “big four” – Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal. But on Sunday 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/66218558">broke that pattern</a> when he beat Djokovic in a five-set thriller to win the title.</p>
<p>It was a surprise win. The dominance of the top four players has led to an expectation that, at Grand Slams, one of them would end up on top. Within forensic psychology there is a cliché – “the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.” Psychological research <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/witness/201301/the-best-predictor-future-behavior-is-past-behavior">backs this phenomenon</a>, whereby we expect the past to repeat itself. </p>
<p>I would argue that this excludes people that are going to do things for the very first time – Alcaraz’s Wimbledon win was his first grass court Grand Slam victory. Carlos Alcaraz was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jun/09/novak-djokovic-outlasts-cramping-alcaraz-to-race-into-french-open-final">beaten by Djokovic</a> at the French Open in June. He reported that it was <a href="https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Editors_Thoughts/133784/carlos-alcaraz-overwhelmed-by-the-pressure-in-the-first-real-tough-test-of-his-career/">overwhelming</a> to play against his hero. </p>
<p>However, perhaps that loss was perceived differently by Alcaraz compared to players that are of the same generation as Djokovic. Alcaraz seemed to use the loss as a mechanism to enhance his performance in any rematch, rather than allowing it to set a precedent for future matches. </p>
<p>Alcaraz is 16 years younger than Djokovic. Throughout his career, he has observed the dominance of the “big four” and has presumably learned from them. As a sport psychologist, I think Alcaraz has a <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means">growth mindset</a> – this is where someone believes that their attainment is influenced by hard work, good strategy and input from others. It’s the opposite of a fixed mindset, whereby someone views the success of others as a threat and feedback as an attack. Such people tend to be risk averse and believe that talent is fixed. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-secret-of-novak-djokovics-record-breaking-tennis-success-is-his-mental-resilience-expert-explains-207872">The secret of Novak Djokovic’s record-breaking tennis success is his mental resilience – expert explains</a>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The moment Alcaraz won Wimbledon.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Sticking to the plan</h2>
<p>During his Wimbledon match against Djokovic, the game plan within Alcaraz’s camp remained consistent, even when momentum shifted. For example, in the long second set, which followed a one-sided first set, Alcaraz broke serve (he won the game even though Djokovic was serving). </p>
<p>In the book, <a href="http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/consultant.html">A Consultant’s Guide to Excellence for Sport and Performance Enhancement</a>, a team of sport psychologists discuss the temptation of high-level performers to adjust their tactics away from what has worked in the past and towards something new. Some athletes believe they will get a small performance gain from doing so.</p>
<p>But this is usually an error, as sporting success is <a href="http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/consultant.html">borne on well-practiced and understood patterns</a> that, when adjusted, can lose – not enhance – effectiveness. </p>
<p>There were a number of moments during the Wimbledon final where Alcaraz could have adjusted what he was doing as a result of unexpected events. Djokovic’s long bathroom break at the end of the third set, for example, could well have put enhanced pressure on him. The loss of the fourth set, too, could have pushed him to try different tactics.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Alcaraz in the post-win press conference.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But sticking to the plan and his belief in its effectiveness to bring about the best possible version of himself meant he was in control. Alcaraz has had the same coach since he was 15 and his player box was filled with his longstanding team and family members, epitomising this approach.</p>
<p>Perhaps his trademark aggressive ground strokes also allowed Alcaraz to release any aggression or anxiety in a productive way. Compare this to the more controlled tactical game played by Novak whereby there is no obvious release for pent up frustration and this could partially explain <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/66226270">a racket violation</a> by Novak in the final set. </p>
<p>Tennis fans will now turn with interest to the US Open, where in just a few weeks’ time these two will be favourites to once again meet in a Grand Slam final. We will see then whether Alcaraz’s Wimbledon win marks a changing of the guard or merely a warning shot to the former champion to raise his game.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Beale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alcaraz’s distinctive aggressive forehand style allowed him to release any aggression or anxiety in a productive way.James Beale, Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2078722023-06-16T13:27:24Z2023-06-16T13:27:24ZThe secret of Novak Djokovic’s record-breaking tennis success is his mental resilience – expert explains<p>It comes as no surprise to anyone who follows tennis that Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam at the French Open this month, making him the most successful men’s tennis player in history. The Serbian player is consistently hard to beat, even when he is playing poorly. But what is it that sets him apart?</p>
<p>There are a few answers. Djokovic has superb technical skills and has been called <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/7-best-returners-all-time-men-s-tennis-ft-novak-djokovic-andre-agassi">the best “returner”</a> in the sport’s history. He has <a href="https://talksport.com/sport/tennis/933042/novak-djokovic-us-open-final-diet-transformed-federer-nadal/">worked on his diet and fitness</a> to ensure he is consistently in optimal health. And his tactical understanding and execution of tennis are second to none. </p>
<p>What remains? The controller of all these three elements: the mental side. In the past 20 years, Djokovic is perhaps the tennis player who has most openly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aRKHy_0w28">spoken about and advocated for</a> mental training – and resilience has been a key focus.</p>
<p>Djokovic has dedicated a significant amount of time and planning to his mental training and has worked with experts to incorporate mindfulness. Talking of this in his 2013 cookbook, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Serve_To_Win/cX8pAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">Serve to Win</a>, Djokovic said: “I do it for about 15 minutes and it is as important to me as my physical training.”</p>
<p>Mindfulness is a mental skill that allows people to experience their conscious thoughts and emotions with the goal of changing their focus of awareness. For example, if the player misses a serve, the brain will probably catastrophise: <em>You missed a serve. You will double fault, and then they will break your serve</em>. In tennis, where every point is a win or a loss, this triggers self-doubt.</p>
<p>Mindfulness allows players to be conscious of this and avoid a negative response. Djokovic goes on to say: </p>
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<p>I’ve done so much mindfulness that my brain functions better now automatically … I used to freeze up whenever I made a mistake. Now when I blow a serve or shank a backhand, I still get those flashes of self-doubt, but I know how to handle them.</p>
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<h2>Why resilience is so important</h2>
<p>Even Djokovic makes mistakes. Resilience is not about error-free performance. That is impossible in elite sports. Resilience is the ability to adapt after adversity. In elite sports, this adversity may be small (such as losing a set in a match) or big (such as a major injury). </p>
<p>Resilience is something <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjpwPma2sT_AhUEgFwKHcDrBUkQFnoECA8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.frontiersin.org%2Farticles%2F10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2022.1003053%2Ffull&usg=AOvVaw2hCO-RJq3pELKWx1WqWqPc">athletes develop over time</a>, putting effort in to building mental and social skills that act as a shield against the negative effects of adversity and failure.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Highlights of Djokovic winning the 2023 French Open, his 23rd Grand Slam title.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Athletes engage in this process through a learning cycle based on their experiences. The psychological skills of emotional control are important for developing resilience. This includes focusing on the process, not the outcome and challenge appraisal, which enables the athlete to look at areas of action they can take to improve their performance, rather than dwelling on threats of failure.</p>
<p>When faced with adversity, the athlete does the best they can. Whatever the outcome, they then reflect on how these psychological skills played out and resilient athletes start repeating what worked for them more. </p>
<p>Djokovic developed his resilience by regularly competing against three great champions of tennis: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. He reflected (for both his successes and failures) on what worked mentally, physically and tactically and then developed himself further. He still uses mindfulness. In his book, Djokovic states how he accepts his thoughts “as they come … they do bounce around like crazy, but they’re supposed to, your job is to let them come and go”.</p>
<p>The main element of Djokovic’s resilience learning process has been his openness to adapt. He has <a href="https://www.tennismajors.com/others-news/the-desire-is-still-there-but-things-can-change-quickly-i-am-36-guys-djokovic-doesnt-avoid-the-age-factor-anymore-683321.html">spoken publicly</a> about how he now understands and treats his physical preparation differently. On a mental level, he has accepted that he cannot play every tournament and <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/novak-djokovic-warns-still-motivated-notch-grand-slams">his motivation has changed slightly</a>.</p>
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<p>Djokovic’s motivation has adapted to target grand slams and prepare for them. This is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10413200590907568?casa_token=GOjoeODZJRYAAAAA%3AViTDnTtuc7mHPalqA29vwsWpXdSTkNv7JyO03mtgqwwHOSTIulzr04Gvnpm2CJFq3iwdZNn6AlY">achievement motivation</a>. In sport psychology, this refers to how people are motivated to work towards their highest performance level because they thrive off the satisfaction of the difficulty in the process. They are not afraid of failure but rather are accepting of it in the course of achieving goals.</p>
<p>This has added to Djokovic’s resilience because it has allowed him to accept everything that has come his way, be it the injuries, the ban from tournaments for being unvaccinated, the toughest of competitions, or even emotional outbursts.</p>
<p>So, what does Djokovic himself attribute his remarkable success to? Speaking to ESPN, the player explained: “I stopped thinking too much about what could happen and relied on my physical and mental strength to play the right shots at the right time.” And play the right shots at the right time, he has done. What an incredible achievement in the history of tennis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207872/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sahen Gupta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Athletes develop resilience over time, building mental and social skills that act as a shield against the negative effects of adversity and failure.Sahen Gupta, Lecturer in Applied Sport & Exercise Psychology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994532023-03-24T12:05:52Z2023-03-24T12:05:52ZWhy elite athletes should develop mindfulness to up their game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516968/original/file-20230322-20-tg2qpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C10%2C3532%2C2344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/KYWJ44">Action Plus Sports Images / Alamy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Athletes at the very highest level of their sport face the challenge of performing consistently under pressure amid many potential distractions, including performance anxiety, crowd behaviour, their own and others’ expectations, and the responses of their opponents.</p>
<p>The performance of players in the <a href="https://ausopen.com/">2023 Australian Open</a>, for example, demonstrated the psychological factors needed to succeed at elite-level tennis.</p>
<p>It had plenty of exciting moments that are the hallmarks of a great tournament. Andy Murray made an <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/andy-murray-australian-open-comeback_uk_63c99293e4b0c8e3fc75b31e">astonishing comeback</a> from two sets down against Thanasi Kokkinakis, following his long recovery after major injury. </p>
<p>Rafael Nadal exited in the second round of his first major slam after the birth of his child, due to ongoing injury – reports described him as being <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/64314854">mentally destroyed</a>. And Novak Djokovic became the only male player to win three consecutive Australian Open championships. The Serbian recently shared that he has “learned the strength and resilience to bounce back from adversity”. </p>
<p>One of the key characteristics of resilient athletes is their ability to focus on the moment. As a researcher in high performance and resilience – <a href="http://broadviewpsychology.com/2020/04/21/resilience-the-ways-to-enhance-this-critical-skill-in-sports/#:%7E:text=Resilience%20is%20defined%20as%20the,potential%20negative%20effect%20of%20stressors%E2%80%9D.">defined</a> as the “role of mental processes and behaviour in promoting personal assets and protecting an individual from the potential negative effect of stressors” – my work looks at understanding this important quality and examining ways to improve it in athletes.</p>
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<h2>Performing under pressure</h2>
<p>This focus and resilience was embodied by the 2023 Australian Open women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka, who won her first grand slam despite losing the first set of the match. More recently, however, she appeared to buckle under pressure at the Indian Wells Open championship, against the composed and focused Elena Rybakina. Sabalenka seemed to dwell on her double-fault errors, which led to her attempting more risky and inaccurate ball strikes. </p>
<p>Two of the men’s game’s greatest players in recent times, Nadal and Djokovic, have been described as having the ability to “<a href="https://tennishead.net/nadal-and-djokovic-play-every-point-like-its-a-match-point-says-atp-star/">play every point like it’s a match point</a>”. This ability to perform consistently at the highest level can be underpinned by a psychological state, ability and skill called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605575/">mindfulness</a>.</p>
<p>Mindfulness is understood by researchers and sport psychologists as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. The notion is rooted in meditative practices in <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/buddhism/">Buddhism</a>, and has drawn the attention of sport psychologists in western society over the last decade. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jcsp/3/4/article-p334.xml">research</a> has shown that mindfulness training – both sitting and active meditation practices – can allow athletes to be present in the moment, and to access optimal states of mind such as confidence and self-belief.</p>
<p>It can also help regulate the emotions by monitoring and channelling them in a way that enhances performance. And it can help athletes reach a state of “flow”, which I describe in my <a href="https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2021.163.04">research</a>“ – meaning being completely in the moment and performing with clarity, fluency and ease.</p>
<h2>Focus and intense emotions</h2>
<p>These psychological factors are crucial in sports like tennis which require players to focus on performing at their best during each point, while "letting go” of previous mistakes. This ability to accept intense positive and negative emotions, and to avoid worrying about past mistakes or future performance, can allow athletes to experience mental clarity and focus on their performance in the current moment. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jcsp/3/4/article-p334.xml">Research</a> has found that mindfulness training is a promising intervention that can improve confidence, self-belief and flow. </p>
<p>I work as part of team that seeks to evaluate the effect of both “traditional” mindfulness, such as sitting meditations, and “active” or “applied” practices, such as engaging in mindfulness while playing sport. We have been researching this in swimmers, with promising findings in pre-elite athletes, and we plan to do the same with elite athletes who compete in other sports including tennis and cricket. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0031512520984422">research</a> has found that mindfulness can improve an athlete’s “action awareness” – their self-awareness of physical movements or actions, and their ability to be in the moment and possess clear goals. These factors are likely to lead to thinking clearly, performing consistently, and being technically and tactically aware in each tennis point, for example. </p>
<p>With the development of ever more sophisticated technology, sport psychology is entering a particularly exciting period that will see further opportunities to help athletes develop their resilience and improve performance under pressure.</p>
<p>For example, the growing accessibility and sophistication of virtual reality (VR) adds another useful tool. Tennis players and other athletes can be immersed in virtual performance environments where auditory and visual distractions and pressures can be introduced to test their resilience.</p>
<p>The use of VR simulations are particularly useful to monitor and assist athletes to practise mindfulness under “controlled” conditions, while sport psychologists monitor their responses and improvements. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102244">research</a> from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Limerick has shown that VR methods can simulate or replicate real-world performance anxiety and pressure in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2014.23">controlled way</a>, allowing progressive and managed exposure to stress.</p>
<p>This can help the athletes get used to states of anxiety that are typical in high-performance sport – and to practise sport psychology techniques like mindfulness to manage them, in a way that ups their game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Meggs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research is showing that players can use mindfulness techniques to improve the mental resilience required to perform at the highest level.Jennifer Meggs, Associate Professor in Psychology, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973972023-01-15T19:00:26Z2023-01-15T19:00:26ZThe 2023 Australian Open pauses a year of profound political tensions in tennis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504393/original/file-20230113-14-qrp3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1640%2C923&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Ross, Alberto Pezzali and Dave Hunt via AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 12 months, significant challenges by way of policy and politics have impacted professional tennis.</p>
<p>Chief among them have been participation constraints around the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by considerations about the eligibility or otherwise of Russian and Belarussian competitors following the invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>With the Australian Open beginning today, where are we currently at with these quandaries?</p>
<h2>The COVID conundrum</h2>
<p>Public health measures during the pandemic inevitably impacted the <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsc/13/3/article-p344.xml">staging of tennis tournaments</a>, with organisers obliged to follow local protocols.</p>
<p>At many events this meant players needed to be vaccinated or receive a medical exemption. For the most part this wasn’t an issue. For example, in January 2022 the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) <a href="https://www.si.com/tennis/2022/01/14/atp-mens-top-100-covid-19-vaccination-rate-novak-djokovic-australian-open">reported</a> 97 of the top 100 men’s players were vaccinated.</p>
<p>This suggested most tennis professionals – much like workers in many other occupations – accepted the public health objectives underpinning vaccination. Doubtless, though, some tennis players had been vaccine hesitant, most notably Novak Djokovic, who famously declared he’d rather <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-watch-novak-djokovic-s-biographer-explains-roots-serb-s-aversion-towards-modern-medicine-vaccines">miss grand slams</a> than be vaccinated against COVID.</p>
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<p>Just a year ago, Djokovic attempted to take part in the Australian Open on the basis of a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-surrounding-djokovics-medical-exemption-means-star-can-expect-a-hostile-reception-on-centre-court-174331">medical exemption</a>”, which prompted raised eyebrows among sceptics.</p>
<p>Eventually, the Serb was required to leave Australia after his <a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovic-has-long-divided-opinion-now-his-legacy-will-be-complicated-even-further-174531">visa was cancelled</a>, a decision that caused a furore in his home country.</p>
<p>Djokovic says he cannot forget the experience of being deported, but hopes he will be <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1132029/djokovic-move-on-australia-return">received respectfully</a> by fans at this year’s tournament.</p>
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<p>As with wider society, tennis authorities have adjusted their COVID protocols over time, particularly in the wake of the “opening up” of society following widespread vaccination.</p>
<p>At the 2022 Australian Open, players needed to be vaccinated or medically exempt, but in 2023 there’s <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/players-can-take-part-in-the-australian-open-if-they-are-covid-positive/news-story/4faa3beb692427279f81d7aaba970e06">no such requirement</a>. Indeed, this year there’s no COVID testing at all, and players can even take part should they contract the virus during the tournament.</p>
<p>The contrast over 12 months is stark, with some players finding it hard to reconcile what was <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-bianca-andreescu-shocked-new-covid-rules-australian-open-2023">required back then to now</a>.</p>
<h2>The Ukraine imbroglio</h2>
<p>Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, endorsed by its ally Belarus, shows no sign of resolution.</p>
<p>In response to the incursion, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its allies provided Ukraine with military supplies and logistical support, while implementing <a href="https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Taras.pdf">economic sanctions</a> against Russia.</p>
<p>Tennis, like many other sports, has also been immersed in the question of sanctions; specifically, how to address the participation or otherwise of Russian and Belarussian players.</p>
<p>For team-based competition, the response was decisive, and pro-Western. The International Tennis Federation ruled that Russian and Belarussian teams be <a href="https://www.tennis365.com/davis-cup/davis-cup-news-itf-replace-russia/">banned</a> from the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. This was especially bad news for Russian tennis players, who were expecting to defend victories in both events from back in 2021.</p>
<p>However, in the case of tournaments focused on individuals, where athletes officially compete for themselves (and unofficially on behalf of their country), the position of tennis authorities varied.</p>
<p>At the first grand slam following the invasion, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-banning-russian-tennis-players-from-wimbledon-the-right-call-179551">Wimbledon</a> organisers, with the support of the British government, declined to accept Russian and Belarussian players.</p>
<p>However, this position was repudiated by both the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which fined the All England Club. </p>
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<p>In an effort to counter what they described as “discrimination” against sanctioned players, these international tennis bodies determined that <a href="https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/atp-wta-to-strip-wimbledon-of-ranking-points-following-russian-belarusian-ban">ranking points</a> would not be awarded at Wimbledon, which disappointed many players.</p>
<p>At the French Open, however, organisers deemed that players from Russia and Belarus were eligible to participate, though with the proviso they compete as “neutral” athletes – bereft of regalia, symbols, or status indicating a connection with their homeland.</p>
<p>This would also require, at the very least, neutrality in respect of their public position on the invasion of Ukraine. As the <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/tennis/news/french-open-2022-why-are-russian-and-belarusian-players-competing-roland-garros-not-wimbledon/i3ezncvyvbis0neapbpyd0ys">tournament director</a> emphasised, if any players were to show support for Putin, sanctions would follow.</p>
<p>Subsequently, the US Open also allowed Russian and Belarusian participants, again under an expectation of neutrality. The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/15/tennis/us-open-russia-belarus-spt-intl/index.html">tournament organisers</a> expressed their “concern about holding the individual athletes accountable for the actions and decisions of their governments”.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, though, ordinary Russians are not treated as “neutrals” by NATO and its allies: they have been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/01/1109033582/are-sanctions-actually-hurting-russias-economy-heres-what-you-need-to-know">collectively penalised</a> by Western sanctions, thus being made accountable for <a href="https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Taras.pdf">Putin’s war</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/boycotts-in-sport-may-not-advance-human-rights-but-they-do-harm-individual-athletes-185208">Boycotts in sport may not advance human rights. But they do harm individual athletes</a>
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<p>In 2023, the Australian Open – like the US and French Open – announced that “neutral” tennis players from Russia and Belarus are welcome. This incensed the Ukrainian ambassador in Canberra, who labelled Tennis Australia’s position as “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/russians-belarusians-to-play-at-australian-open-despite-calls-for-ban-20230104-p5cacx.html">unprincipled</a>”.</p>
<p>However, Daniil Medvedev, the leading Russian men’s player, expressed relief at being able to play, asserting a personal commitment to “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/russians-belarusians-to-play-at-australian-open-despite-calls-for-ban-20230104-p5cacx.html">peace</a>”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka complained that playing under a neutral flag at the Australian Open makes her feel she is “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/what-did-it-change-belarusian-star-slams-wimbledon-ban-20221231-p5c9me.html">from nowhere</a>”.</p>
<h2>Cheers and jeers</h2>
<p>So, how might these political issues impact this year’s Australian Open?</p>
<p>Novak Djokovic is back in town, chasing an incredible tenth singles title. After a year’s absence he remains a polarising figure. How will tennis fans respond? </p>
<p>And what of the Russian and Belarusian players? No player from either country competed at Wimbledon in 2022, and none featured as finalists at last year’s French and US Open. There’s an opportunity in Melbourne for that trend to change.</p>
<p>With these background tensions in mind, Australian Open boss <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-11620657/Fans-Australian-Open-warned-theyll-KICKED-sledge-Novak-Djokovic-much.html">Craig Tiley</a> has instructed security to be on a tight leash in the event of booing, declaring: “If [fans] disrupt the enjoyment of anyone else – boom, they are out. We don’t want them on site. They can stay away or we will kick them out”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Adair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine combined to make 2022 one of the most controversial years in tennis.Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1912022022-09-23T14:00:36Z2022-09-23T14:00:36ZRoger Federer proved sporting greatness is about
more than just winning<p><a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/bio#:%7E:text=Player%20Bio&text=1%20(237)%20in%20Pepperstone%20ATP,doubles%20matches%20during%20his%20career.">Roger Federer’s</a> retirement from competitive tennis means the sun is starting to set on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/tennis-has-had-a-golden-generation-but-not-a-golden-era-142003">golden generation</a> of men’s tennis, underpinned by the extraordinary feats of Federer, <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview">Rafael Nadal</a> and <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview">Novak Djokovic</a>. News of his retirement has reignited debate about whether he is not just a great of men’s tennis but the GOAT: the greatest of all time. </p>
<p>For many, Federer stands alone at the apex of this and every other generation. But this view is not borne out by the numbers. Federer has won fewer grand slams than Nadal and Djokovic, spent fewer weeks at world number one than Djokovic, and won fewer ATP titles than <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jimmy-connors/c044/overview">Jimmy Connors</a>. </p>
<p>However, raw numbers are an inadequate measure of sporting success. For one thing, they obscure the effect of events that disrupt equality of opportunity across the generations. For example, the numbers do not reflect the recent COVID interruption (and subsequent exclusion from competition of the <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/story/_/id/34457783/unvaccinated-novak-djokovic-withdraws-us-open-travel-united-states">unvaccinated Djokovic</a>), nor do they capture the transitional period from amateur to professional tennis.</p>
<p>How many grand slam titles would <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rod-laver/l058/overview">Rod Laver</a> have won had he not been banned from grand slam events for five years (1963-1967) following his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/sports/tennis/31anderson.html">departure from the professional tour</a>? Laver won 11 grand slams during his career, including a calendar grand slam (winning all four slams in the same year) both prior to, and following, his ban. The achievement of even one calendar grand slam has eluded Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. </p>
<p>Even if we had a fair and accurate means to compare sporting success across generations, this would not settle the question of greatness. For sporting greatness is not reducible to sporting success. This distinction may be what Federer fans allude to when they refer to him as the GOAT. Rather than nostalgia for a time when the numbers stacked up in his favour, they may be pointing to a broader notion of sporting greatness. </p>
<h2>What makes sporting greatness?</h2>
<p>We should embrace a more nuanced understanding of sporting greatness than one restricted to rankings and titles. Victory is one sporting value among many. To operate with the restricted view overlooks important sporting values that were the hallmark of Federer’s career: excellence, aesthetics and integrity. </p>
<p><strong>Excellence</strong></p>
<p>Federer played “total tennis”. He possessed the full repertoire of skills and capacities – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00948705.2022.2059489">elements of excellence</a> – that the sport tests and makes possible. During his prime, he could serve-and-volley to win points quickly or grind out long rallies from behind the baseline. </p>
<p>As he entered his mid-thirties, he reinvented his game to play on the baseline and take the ball earlier. While his rivals relied on executing a narrower set of “excellences” supremely well, Federer adapted his game to whatever the circumstance demanded by showcasing different elements at different times.</p>
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<p><strong>Aesthetics</strong></p>
<p>The great players do not just perfect the sport as it is, they alter our understanding of what it can be. While aesthetics is central to a sport such as gymnastics, it is incidental to tennis. An ugly point counts for just as much as a sublime point; ungainly strokes can be as effective as elegant strokes.</p>
<p>However, Federer’s style was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8voIyM81zY&">uniquely pleasing to the eye</a>. He brought tennis to new aesthetic heights with the grace and fluidity of his strokes and his smooth explosive athleticism. He showed that efficiency need not come at the cost of beauty. His style eliminated the distinction between racket and player; in his hand, the racket was an extension, not an addition. Federer revealed new aesthetic possibilities in tennis while never compromising on the pursuit of excellence. </p>
<p><strong>Integrity</strong></p>
<p>Finally, Federer’s greatness also lies partly in his ethics. His integrity as an athlete was most clearly evident in how he conducted himself on the court, how he managed his rivalries, and, perhaps most memorably, how he competed against his greatest rival. </p>
<p>For one so acquainted with winning, Federer knew how to lose well. Throughout his career of more than 1,700 matches, he never <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/news/roger-federer-retirement%E2%80%94tribute">retired from a match</a>, never feigned or submitted to injury as a contest began to slip away. He was awarded the ATP <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/news/atp-awards-2021-fans-favourite-roger-federer">sportsmanship award</a> 13 times, an accolade voted on by his fellow professionals on the men’s tour.</p>
<p>At each stage of his career, he cultivated relations of reciprocal respect and appreciation with his main rivals, whether it was <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-roddick/r485/overview">Andy Roddick</a> in his early period, Nadal in his middle period, or Djokovic in his late period. Through his rivalry with Nadal in particular, we witnessed competition at its best – a mutual quest for excellence in which both players laid down a challenge to each other, and in so doing extended each other’s abilities and improved one another in the process.</p>
<p>While their complementary strengths and weaknesses combined to make for compelling contests, the moral quality of the Federer/Nadal rivalry also stands out. They showed us how to compete well. They competed as fiercely as two athletes can, for the highest stakes in their sport, yet neither resorted to the morally dubious means of <a href="https://theconversation.com/andy-murray-stefanos-tsitsipas-and-that-seven-minute-toilet-break-can-you-cheat-if-you-dont-break-the-rules-167075">cheating or gamesmanship</a>.</p>
<p>Even when chasing history, they proved that competition does not have to be cutthroat. Their example puts the lie to any cynical view of competition according to which rivals must be enemies and every opportunity for advantage must be seized. In doing so, Federer and Nadal have done a service not just to tennis but to sport. </p>
<p>Federer has honoured and deepened a tradition of tennis that stretches back through his idol, <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/pete-sampras/s402/overview">Pete Sampras</a>, and Sampras’s idol, Rod Laver. This tradition prizes attacking flair, fluid technique and impeccable conduct. The modern history of men’s tennis arguably begins with Laver, so it is appropriate that the Federer era ends this weekend at the Laver Cup.</p>
<p>In the final analysis, where Federer stands in the pantheon of great tennis champions is less important than how he broadened our understanding of sporting greatness itself. Success is part of it, but only part – excellence, aesthetics, and integrity also define the greatest of all time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John William Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The numbers don’t show he was the greatest, but his excellence, aesthetics and integrity most certainly do.John William Devine, Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1783952022-03-15T12:11:57Z2022-03-15T12:11:57ZWhy celebrities have a moral responsibility to help promote lifesaving vaccines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451656/original/file-20220311-23-1q74rbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=99%2C9%2C5918%2C3996&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many celebrities have expressed concerns about bodily autonomy while refusing COVID-19 vaccination.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-joe-rogan-experience-podcast-on-spotify-displayed-on-a-news-photo/1238156274?adppopup=true">Photo Illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the heated debate about vaccine mandates, celebrities have not hesitated to raise their voices. Most prominently, Serbian tennis star <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60354068">Novak Djokovic</a> has stated he would rather not participate in tennis tournaments than get the vaccine required to play. And <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/60199614">Joe Rogan</a> has used his highly popular podcast to spread vaccine misinformation, saying the vaccine could alter one’s genes.</p>
<p>While some resistance is based on misinformation or distrust of the vaccines, some is rooted in concerns about bodily autonomy. In January 2022, actor <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/anti-vaxx-celebrities-cant-stop-telling-on-themselves">Evangeline Lilly</a> attended a rally protesting vaccine mandates in the name of bodily sovereignty, claiming she was “pro-choice” and stating, “I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will.” Comedian <a href="https://twitter.com/RobSchneider/status/1413884214726971394">Rob Schneider</a> echoed this reasoning, proclaiming “My body, my choice” in a tweet. Actor <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/anti-vaxx-celebrities-are-coming-out-of-the-woodwork.html">LaKeith Stanfield</a> expressed in a now-deleted Instagram post that vaccines should be solely a matter of “personal choice.” These celebrities oppose the state’s or other institutions’ requiring them to get the vaccine and claim that it should be up to individual choice. </p>
<p>This claim is of particular interest to me as an <a href="https://trulli.faculty.ucdavis.edu/">ethicist</a> who has recently co-authored an <a href="https://www.academia.edu/71072699/Can_My_Body_My_Choice_Anti_Vaxxers_Be_Pro_Life">academic paper</a> assessing the anti-vaccine mandate activists’ appropriation of the “my body, my choice” argument from the abortion-rights movement. In that paper, I argue that those who oppose vaccine mandates for reasons of bodily autonomy have yet greater reason to oppose abortion restrictions, because they entail far greater impositions on bodily autonomy. Thus, being against vaccines for reasons of bodily autonomy but opposing abortion is not a coherent position.</p>
<p>The celebrity claim to “my body, my choice” in opposing vaccination is another matter. Celebrities have great influence over others, that can have consequences that go beyond their own health. </p>
<h2>‘Do no harm’ principle</h2>
<p>Anyone can get infected with COVID-19 and risk transmitting the virus to others. Spreading COVID-19 risks causing them <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html">severe harm</a>, including death, hospitalization, or long-term sickness and disability. </p>
<p>Indeed, celebrities themselves have been the victims of COVID-19. The disease has taken singer and songwriter <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/07/750894794/john-prine-obituary">John Prine</a>, former Secretary of State <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/former-secretary-state-colin-powell-dies-covid-complications-n1281746">Colin Powell</a> and, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/howard-stern-meat-loaf-family-vaccines-1235163384/">reportedly</a>, the legendary entertainer <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/howard-stern-meat-loaf-anti-vax-covid-vaccine-1290644/">Meat Loaf</a>. </p>
<p>While liberal societies such as the U.S. generally privilege the freedom to make individual choices, even if ill-advised, they also endorse a prohibition on harming others. According to philosopher John Stuart Mill, people are allowed to do as they wish except when they could harm one another.</p>
<p>There are two components to Mill’s <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill-moral-political/#HarPri">harm principle</a>. First, there is a duty not to harm others. But second, Mill claims that enforcing this duty is the only legitimate reason to limit people’s liberties. </p>
<p>The first part, the duty not to harm, is not contentious. It is in people’s rational best interest to endorse a mutually respected rule of not harming one another. The second part is controversial. The political libertarians endorse it; other liberals reject it. </p>
<p>But even if one thinks, as Mill and the libertarians do, that the government prerogative to interfere with individual liberties is restricted to enforcing the duty not to harm, <a href="https://jme.bmj.com/content/44/1/37.long?casa_token=_2F73scGFEAAAAAA:vZIKE5Byo-bf-Q2H52JqJ-6HxK6lqGeaD5gsRtEe0DNfmljqMJC5Tnx2dnoRDiCTOoC3hUZXig">vaccine mandates can still be justified</a>. In other instances, people endorse the state’s right to limit liberties that risk imposing harm on innocent others. Driving with worn brake pads greatly increases the risk of causing an accident and injuring or killing someone. The government can rightly restrict people, by threat of fine or other penalty, from driving with a car in disrepair.</p>
<p>Likewise, someone who is infected with COVID-19 risks spreading it to someone who could die or be seriously ill from it. While vaccination does not guarantee that one will not become infected or transmit the virus to others, a three-dose course of vaccines <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/by-the-numbers-covid-19-vaccines-and-omicron">greatly decreases the odds</a> of infection and thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o298">reduces transmission</a> rates. Further, vaccines are <a href="https://factly.in/all-these-nations-are-providing-covid-19-vaccinations-free-of-charge-to-their-citizens/">low cost or free</a> and very <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-vaccines.html">low risk</a>. For the same reasons as above, the government can rightly deny people access to certain activities if they refuse to get vaccinated. </p>
<p>The “my body, my choice” claim fails to recognize that some people’s choices, such as failing to get a low-risk, effective vaccine against a deadly disease, impose unjustified risk of harm on others that the government has a right to prevent. Even libertarians should by their own commitments agree. This requirement applies to all individuals, whether famous or not. </p>
<h2>Promoting good</h2>
<p>When it comes to what the state can do, celebrities are not special. But some celebrities seem to be overlooking the possibility that they have special moral responsibility in light of their stature. For better or worse, many people look up to celebrities as people to admire and to emulate. Celebrities can influence others to also get vaccinated.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mural on a building depicts a man with a tennis racket, with writing in Cyrillic script across the top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451658/original/file-20220311-14-19872a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tennis player Novak Djokovic has refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mural-depicting-serbian-tennis-player-novak-djokovic-is-news-photo/1237787230?adppopup=true">Vladimir Zivojinovic/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>There is strong reason to think that in some circumstances we do have the responsibility to help others and promote the good. That is, morality is not limited to just not causing harm. Philosopher <a href="https://petersinger.info/">Peter Singer</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2265052">famously argued</a> that someone who walks by a shallow pond and finds a child at risk of drowning in the pond is morally required to wade in and pull the child out. After all, the risk to the rescuer is so minor – perhaps ruining some nice shoes. But the benefit to the child is life itself.</p>
<p>Thus, people have some duties to do good for others in addition to the duty not to harm. As Singer argues, when so great a thing as life itself is at stake, people have a moral duty to do what they can to save lives if the cost to them is not overly burdensome.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>The situation with COVID-19 is similar in morally relevant ways. Encouraging others to get vaccinated and setting an example by doing so oneself is low cost, given the low-risk profile of the vaccine. But in doing so, one can literally save lives.</p>
<p>Celebrities are uniquely positioned to do this promotional lifesaving work at low cost. Singer’s principle suggests they are obligated to do so. Celebrities claiming “my body, my choice,” in my view, are mistaken on both these fronts.</p>
<p>The well-accepted duty not to harm is the ground for justified vaccine mandates. Celebrities are well positioned and thus morally responsible to help promote lifesaving vaccines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tina Rulli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An ethicist argues that choices made by celebrities could impose unjustified risk of harm on others.Tina Rulli, Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1751122022-01-24T12:03:35Z2022-01-24T12:03:35ZNovak Djokovic was detained for five days – refugees in the same hotel have been there for years<p>When Novak Djokovic arrived at a Melbourne airport to compete in the 2022 Australian Open, his next stop was not the tennis court but rather the Park hotel, a hotel-turned-immigration detention centre. The Australian government’s reasoning was simple: Djokovic did not meet the country’s vaccination requirements. </p>
<p>During Djokovic’s five-day detention, his family <a href="https://novaramedia.com/2022/01/11/novak-djokovics-detention-exposed-australias-brutal-border-regime/">compared</a> his treatment to that of a prisoner, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/06/novak-djokovics-mother-says-her-son-is-treated-like-a-prisoner-in-a-dirty-hotel-with-bugs-15875438/">stating</a>: “He is not a criminal but an athlete.”</p>
<p>Djokovic’s visa debacle and short stay in the Park hotel is a stark contrast to the plight of the 30-plus asylum seekers also <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/novak-djokovic-australia-white-torture-refugee">detained</a> there. Journalists flocked to the hotel to cover the story of the detained tennis player, but paid <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/12/novak-djokovic-australia-border-immigration-behrouz-boochani-janet-galbraith/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=wp_opinions&utm_medium=social">little attention</a> to Djokovic’s neighbours, some of whom have been there for more than two years.</p>
<p>Whether in Melbourne or the country’s notorious offshore centres, immigration detention, for many, is <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/life/2022/01/22/the-sky-this-cage/164277000013174#mtr">indefinite</a>. The Park hotel and the experience of its “residents” are just one example of how states use time and space to reinforce their borders.</p>
<h2>The waiting game</h2>
<p>Time is a key tool in cementing borders. When states make refugees wait, whether through delayed processing or spatial isolation, refugees no longer control their own time or movement. They must wait on someone else for permission: to move freely, to work, to study to plan ahead. In the UK, asylum seekers wait an average of <a href="https://refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/thousands-seeking-asylum-face-cruel-wait-of-years-for-asylum-decision-fresh-research-shows/">one to three years</a> for a response to their asylum claim. In the meantime, they cannot legally work. </p>
<p>Keeping refugees waiting indefinitely (often in the name of care) is how many states have managed to avoid legal obligations to protect refugees under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a>. Through <a href="https://pomeps.org/culture-or-bureaucracy-challenges-in-syrian-refugees-initial-incorporation-in-germany">unending bureaucracy</a> and <a href="https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/detention-as-the-default-how-greece-with-the-support-of-the-eu-is-generalizing-621307/">unexplained detentions</a>, European states are well versed in quietly wasting refugees’ time, sometimes by housing them in centres with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20356446">humanitarian</a> or otherwise friendly <a href="https://harpers.org/2018/03/the-bubble-bursts-2/">facades</a> – not unlike a hotel that doubles as a detention centre. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovic-the-legal-problem-of-having-one-rule-for-some-another-for-everyone-else-174655">Novak Djokovic: the legal problem of having one rule for some, another for everyone else</a>
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<p>This is the case in Jordan, where a Syrian refugee camp approaches its eighth birthday. Azraq camp has been lauded as the <a href="http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/azraq-refugee-camp-officially-opened">model refugee camp</a>, featuring neat rows of caravans that depict order and stability but disguise the fact that refugees are under constant watch. Some “residents” of Azraq’s high-security section, <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/fr/node/256249">Village 5</a>, have been confined to this corner of the camp since 2016. </p>
<p>In 2018, Village 5 refugee Aya <a href="https://cbrl.ac.uk/research-blog/adapting-to-azraq-syrian-heritage-vulnerability-and-being-new-in-a-refugee-camp/">told me</a> her wait felt like a “lifetime”. At the time, processing the almost 10,000 refugees in Village 5 was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/5782dcbf32af4fb19f78de317717bd1b">predicted</a> to take another two years. Four years later – two lifetimes – Aya is still there.</p>
<p>Every day, Aya has two choices: to continue to wait or to request repatriation to Syria. While she fills each day with cash-for-work activities in her neighbourhood NGO centre, the years slip away, and her future career plans along with them. Many of her neighbours have stopped indulging in future plans. </p>
<p>The camp has not only claimed their mobility but also <a href="https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/stolen-time">stolen</a> their time.</p>
<p>For refugees who made it to the UK, which has increasingly taken <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/05/priti-patel-to-reveal-proposals-for-offshore-centres-for-asylum-seekers">inspiration</a> from Australia’s hostile immigration policies, the wait is similarly precarious. Bayan Almasri, a Syrian master’s student at King’s College London, arrived in the UK after a nine month journey from Jordan, which involved months of waiting in Germany and France.</p>
<p>But he says the wait to receive asylum only really began the minute he set foot on British soil in June 2016: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some people waited two years … so I had no idea how long the wait would be. Every day when you wake up, you just think, “When will I have the right to stay here?” It’s an everyday question.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For refugees, time is a <a href="https://interactive.thenewhumanitarian.org/stories/2021/12/8/drawing-syrias-trauma/">painfully invisible</a> border. </p>
<p>While Djokovic may have briefly shared with them an experience in detention, it was just that: brief. His visa was processed and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-60014059">revoked twice</a> in a span of 10 days. And he could be sure from day one that his future would remain intact regardless of the government’s ruling.</p>
<p>This fast-tracked processing is a luxury not afforded to asylum seekers. And indeed, most visa applicants may wait weeks, months, or even years for someone to decide what their future will look like. Such applications are seldom treated with the urgency of Djokovic’s tennis match. </p>
<p>Djokovic’s wait is over, even though he could not play in the Australian Open. For refugees around the world, the waiting game – one they never signed up for – continues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Gatter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The tennis star’s short stay in the Park hotel is a far cry from the years many refugees spend waiting for action.Melissa Gatter, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1747492022-01-18T16:11:32Z2022-01-18T16:11:32ZCarrots, sermons, sticks: Vaccine mandates face opposition around the globe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441181/original/file-20220117-15-1es01ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6514%2C4339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Around the world, from Italy to Québec, authorities are using everything from mandates to incentives to try to get people vaccinated. Here's why mandates aren't always effective, are difficult to enforce and often lead to protests like the one seen here in Rome.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Politicians around the world are torn between pressure to implement <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2774712">vaccine mandates</a> and the danger of further fuelling social division and protests. </p>
<p>When COVID-19 arrived, the carrot dangled to citizens was that <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/12/anthony-fauci-offers-a-timeline-for-ending-covid-19-pandemic/">once the majority of them were vaccinated, life would return to normal.</a>
Some governments offered incentives and prizes to encourage vaccination. In Moscow, <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20210601155421-gr1fs/">draws for cars were held while Londoners had the chance to win tickets to football matches</a>. </p>
<p>However, the rise of COVID-19 variants, along with the waning of the protection offered by vaccines against infection, meant that the pandemic continued even in countries where the majority of the population had received their shots.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grey-haired man in a suit gestures as he talks with the White House insignia on the wall behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441174/original/file-20220117-23-1dl6atq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Politicians then turned to sermons, with appeals for all citizens to get vaccinated, along with their children. Public health officials <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/doctors-defend-fauci-from-republican-attacks-motivated-by-partisan-politics-195801055.html">like Anthony Fauci</a> in the United States were thrust into the headlines as advocates of vaccines and vaccination. But even today, the preaching and education are still failing to sway enough holdouts to get jabbed. </p>
<h2>Mandates aimed at changing behaviour</h2>
<p>Next, politicians turned to sticks by instituting vaccination mandates. Mandates are orders for citizens to act at the behest of governments; for the most part, they’re not laws passed by legislatures. Mandates of any kind are controversial, and particularly so when implemented rapidly and designed to swiftly change individual behaviour. </p>
<p>Even in countries with high vaccination rates, like South Korea, the recent <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20220114104250-mw3jh/">vaccine mandate to enter supermarkets</a> has been extraordinarily divisive. </p>
<p>Vaccine mandates aren’t decrees for citizens to roll up their sleeves, but rather rules that <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/vaccine-mandates">restrict the activities of those not vaccinated</a>. In other words, they penalize those who don’t comply. The penalties involve preventing access to workplaces and restaurants, travel and other activities. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with dark hair in a mask stands in an airplane." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441175/original/file-20220117-19-1h3a1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Novak Djokovic prepares to take his seat on a plane to Belgrade after being deported from Australia due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike carrots and sermons, the problem with mandates is that, inevitably, exceptions are sought by particular groups or people. </p>
<p>Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s recent deportation from Australia, for example, was the culmination of a public saga involving the legal and political interpretations of that country’s vaccine mandate. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovic-the-legal-problem-of-having-one-rule-for-some-another-for-everyone-else-174655">Novak Djokovic: the legal problem of having one rule for some, another for everyone else</a>
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<h2>Mandates have questionable effectiveness</h2>
<p>The effectiveness of mandates as a strategy to encourage the final group of holdouts to become vaccinated has always been problematic. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization hasn’t recommended vaccine mandates, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/who-vaccine-mandates-should-be-last-resort/a-60043712">labelling them as the “absolute last resort.”</a> Mandates may change behaviour of individuals who are uncertain about whether to get the vaccine, but not of those <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/cost-being-unvaccinated-rising-will-people-be-willing-pay-price">with strongly held beliefs</a>. </p>
<p>In late 2021, Greece made vaccinations mandatory for people aged 60 and older, but there was no enforcement. In early 2022, the Greek government announced <a href="https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1175115/mandatory-vaccination-likely-to-include-over-50s/">a 100 euro fine for those not yet vaccinated</a>, but it’s also unclear how those fines will be enforced. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-make-covid-jab-mandatory-over-50s-tighten-curbs-draft-2022-01-05/">Italy, where almost 75 per cent of the population is vaccinated, has made getting the jab compulsory</a> for everyone over the age of 50. </p>
<p>In France as of mid-January, all adults must be fully vaccinated to enter restaurants, cinemas and other public venues. Unlike vaccine mandates in many other countries, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220116-french-parliament-approves-more-restrictive-vaccine-pass">this mandate is a law passed by the National Assembly</a>, not an order issued by the French president. However, there is no government vaccine mandate for most workplaces in the country.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a beard in a red sweater speaks into a microphone with an ornate pillared building behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441176/original/file-20220117-13-8uomi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A grocery store owner who successfully challenged the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for large employers talks to reporters outside the U.S. Supreme Court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the U.S., the Supreme Court blocked President Joe Biden’s <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8510432/us-supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-businesses/">mandate to compel businesses with more than 100 employees</a> to require workers to be vaccinated or tested. </p>
<p>The court ruled that although the Biden administration has the authority to regulate occupational dangers, it does not have the power to regulate public health more broadly. Only Congress has this power, the Supreme Court justices said, in the form of new legislation.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/austria-announce-details-planned-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-2021-12-09/">Austria plans to fine those who have not met the mandatory vaccination requirement up 3,600 euros</a> every three months. But, again, there’s no indication of how this will work in practice. In Canada, Québec has proposed a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/unvaccinated-health-contribution-quebec-1.6311054">substantial tax on unvaccinated adults</a>, again with few details. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-vaccine-mandates-would-likely-face-legal-hurdles-in-canada-174856">COVID-19 vaccine mandates would likely face legal hurdles in Canada</a>
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<h2>Trial balloons?</h2>
<p>The fines and taxes being proposed are trial balloons that cannot reasonably be implemented or enforced. In any case, they are likely to be found unconstitutional by the courts. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An unmasked woman carries a sign that says liberte at a protest surrounded by other protesters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441178/original/file-20220117-23-ewvjg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Paris in December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Francois Mori)</span></span>
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<p>These trial balloons suggest politicians are recognizing that mandates won’t change the minds or behaviour of those who remain unvaccinated. French President Emmanuel Macron admitted as much recently with his comment that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/05/macron-french-president-wants-to-annoy-the-unvaccinated-.html">his aim now is to hassle and annoy the unvaccinated</a>.</p>
<p>Having exhausted the policy tools available to change individual behaviour, politicians now ponder next steps. It may be that little can be gained from additional vaccine mandates and related punitive measures other than weakening social cohesion. </p>
<p>Political leaders may well consider returning where they began: looking at carrots rather than sticks, and making vaccination attractive to the holdouts rather than punishing them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Having exhausted policy tools to convince vaccination holdouts to change their minds, it seems little can be gained from additional vaccine mandates than further weakening social cohesion.Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1750382022-01-16T10:18:42Z2022-01-16T10:18:42ZWhy Novak Djokovic lost his fight to stay in Australia – and why it sets a concerning precedent<p>Many sports stars are, rightly or wrongly, held up as role models. In the case of Novak Djokovic, we have a set of powerful factors at play. </p>
<p>On one side is a tennis superstar who is unvaccinated and has raised concerns about receiving the vaccination. On the other side is a government which believes Djokovic’s presence in Australia will have a serious negative effect on public health orders and future vaccination levels. </p>
<p>Today, the full Federal Court, in a unanimous judgement, dismissed Djokovic’s application to overturn the cancellation of his visa. It is not surprising he lost his case. Although the evidence used by the immigration minister to cancel the visa was not overwhelmingly strong, the breadth of his powers under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C1958A00062">Migration Act</a> made it very difficult to successfully challenge his findings.</p>
<p>But the legal issues raised by this case do not end here. What are the broader implications of the government’s approach in future cases involving high-profile “anti-vaxxers” or people who may be seen as a risk to Australia’s social order? </p>
<p>Although the government may be very happy about this result, I would question whether this is a workable precedent to set for other sportspeople, or indeed anyone, who may be seen as posing a risk to the public interest of Australia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1482525048443670532"}"></div></p>
<h2>What the government claimed</h2>
<p>The immigration minister has the power to cancel a visa if he or she is satisfied a person’s presence in Australia <em>might</em> be a risk to the health, safety or good order of Australia and the cancellation is in the public interest. </p>
<p>The use of the word “might” is important – the minister does not need to show Djokovic <em>would</em> pose a risk, only that he <em>may</em> do so.</p>
<p>When cancelling Djokovic’s visa on Friday, <a href="https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/djokovic/filed-documents/Sealed-Affidavit-Bannister-1512022.pdf">Immigration Minister Alex Hawke</a> reasoned the tennis player’s conduct and stance against vaccination may encourage others to emulate him by reason of his high profile and status. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovic-has-long-divided-opinion-now-his-legacy-will-be-complicated-even-further-174531">Novak Djokovic has long divided opinion. Now, his legacy will be complicated even further</a>
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<p>There were two issues with the ministerial statement which were discussed at some length in the full Federal Court:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Hawke did not seek the views of Djokovic on his present attitude to vaccinations. Instead, the minister cited material that made clear Djokovic has publicly expressed antivaccination sentiment. This included a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59897918">BBC article</a>, which Djokovic’s lawyers argued was not sufficient to make a judgement about his vaccination views. </p></li>
<li><p>Hawke explicitly referred to the effect Djokovic’s presence would have on public health and social order. What the minister did not consider, however, was the other side of this argument. That is, Djokovic’s deportation might lead to an increase in anti-vax sentiment and/or civil unrest. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>What Djokovic claimed</h2>
<p>Djokovic’s lawyers made some very compelling <a href="https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/djokovic/filed-documents/sealed-Applicants-revised-Submissions-1512022.pdf">arguments</a> about Hawke’s reasoning. Put simply, the lawyers said the minister had two choices: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>to cancel the visa and deport Djokovic </p></li>
<li><p>not cancel it and let him stay. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>They argued it was irrational for Hawke to only question the effect Djokovic’s presence would have on anti-vax sentiment in Australia and not the effect his deportation would have.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-one-man-with-god-like-powers-decides-if-novak-djokovic-can-stay-or-go-174773">Why one man with 'god-like' powers decides if Novak Djokovic can stay or go</a>
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<p>Djokovic’s lawyers also argued the minister’s findings lacked sufficient evidence to support the contention that his presence in Australia might pose a risk to the health or good order of the Australian community and the contention Djokovic had a “well-known stance on vaccination”. </p>
<p>Djokovic’s lawyers conceded Djokovic had previously said he was opposed to vaccinations. However, they pointed out in the BBC article he </p>
<blockquote>
<p>later clarified his position by adding that he was ‘no expert’ and would keep an ‘open mind’ but wanted to have ‘an option to choose what’s best for my body’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is important to note this qualifying passage was not extracted by Hawke in his statement - a point Djokovic’s lawyers made in the hearing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Supporters of Novak Djokovic hold Serbian flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440956/original/file-20220116-28-11x9wet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Supporters of Novak Djokovic hold Serbian flags outside the Federal Court building in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Moldoveanu/AP</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Why Djokovic’s case failed</h2>
<p>In response, the government argued it was reasonable to conclude Djokovic is opposed to vaccination based on his previous public statements and the fact he is known to be unvaccinated. </p>
<p>The government also said Hawke was not only concerned with Djokovic’s current views on vaccination, but the <em>public perception</em> of his views.</p>
<p>Further, the government said Hawke did not have to show Djokovic’s presence <em>has</em> fostered anti-vaccination sentiment or necessarily <em>will</em> foster it. All he needed to show was his presence in Australia <em>may</em> foster anti-vax sentiment – a relatively low threshold to reach.</p>
<p>Presumably, this is why Djokovic’s case failed. Although there were questions about the evidence used by Hawke, the Migration Act powers are very broad and it is difficult to challenge them based on unlawfulness.</p>
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<h2>Implications for the future</h2>
<p>While the Federal Court’s decision may be viewed as legally justified given the breadth of the cancellation powers in the Migration Act, some thought must be given to the future implications of these powers and what this means for the ability of the government to cancel other people’s visas.</p>
<p>The basis of Hawke’s findings seemed to be it was enough to show Djokovic is an iconic sports star who is perceived as being anti-vaccination and therefore may foster anti-vax sentiment in Australia.</p>
<p>I have a number of concerns with this.</p>
<p>First, it is unfair if the perception or actions of others can determine someone’s eligibility to remain in a country. A person may wrongly be viewed as having a particular belief and still be subject to a visa cancellation.</p>
<p>Second, the minister relied on Djokovic’s claimed status as a “role model” and his capacity as a high-profile sportsperson to apparently influence society. What if a sportsperson is unvaccinated, but not high-profile?</p>
<p>Third, and this is the most concerning point, if we extend this logic to other people, it could justify the cancellation of any individual who is seen as a “role model” and who may be perceived as causing social unrest or protests. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://twitter.com/Kate_Seear/status/1482568831264768009?s=20">legal commentators such as Kate Seear pointed out</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This kind of logic - that athletes are role models and role models can influence society […] could be extended to other athletes wanting to come here in the future, including those with diverse political views, such as supporters of Black Lives Matter and defunding police.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lastly, the idea a person can have their visa cancelled because their views might affect the health, safety or good order of the Australian community raises issues for freedom of expression. </p>
<p>A wide cancellation power allows the government to stop international visitors who may have an important message to tell Australians. That would pose significant concerns for political debate in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria O'Sullivan previously received funding from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department to undertake research on automated decision-making. She also serves on the Human Rights Legal Advice Panel for the Queensland Parliament.</span></em></p>The ruling could justify the future visa cancellation of any individual who is seen as a ‘role model’ and who may be perceived as causing social unrest.Maria O'Sullivan, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, and Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1749892022-01-14T16:36:32Z2022-01-14T16:36:32Z‘We’re entering unprecedented territory’: sports expert Q&A on what Djokovic row means for unvaccinated elite athletes<p><em>Tennis star Novak Djokovic is out of the <a href="https://ausopen.com">Australian Open</a> after the country’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke, cancelled his visa “on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”. This follows an earlier quashing of the original decision by Border Force officials to cancel the Serbian player’s visa when he arrived in Australia because he didn’t have a COVID vaccination. Djokovic’s lawyers headed to court to seek an injunction against his deportation, which has now <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-australia-60001871">been dismissed</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Djokovic was seeking a tenth title at the event, as well as the world record for men’s Grand Slam wins. At the age of 34, it this makes it harder for him to now be able to fulfil his potential on the court before he retires.</em></p>
<p><em>At a time when multiple countries have been introducing restrictions on unvaccinated people, it raises questions about whether other sports stars will run into similar issues. We asked sports management expert Keith Parry about what the visa struggle might mean for sports stars and teams around the world.</em></p>
<p><strong>Will Djokovic’s visa saga have implications for other sports in Australia?</strong></p>
<p>Yes it will. Now they’ve set the precedent, I think we could see other players fall foul of this system when entering Australia. Clearly the federal government do not want unvaccinated players coming into Australia so it will deter some (unless they agree to isolate for two weeks).</p>
<p><strong>Are significant numbers of sports stars unvaccinated?</strong></p>
<p>In the US the public know if players are unvaccinated because of regulations there. For example the National Basketball Association has released a list of <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/list-vaccinated-unvaccinated-nba-players-ahead-season">unvaccinated players</a>. There’s no requirement to name players in the UK, but there’s been coverage about <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/unvaccinated-premiership-players-could-face-10-day-isolation-if-they-travel-to-france-for-european-clashes/ar-AASKCsa">Premier League footballers</a> not being vaccinated.</p>
<p><strong>What are other teams likely to do to avoid trouble?</strong></p>
<p>Liverpool FC manager Jürgen Klopp has said that he won’t sign an <a href="https://www.thisisanfield.com/2021/12/jurgen-klopp-confirms-liverpool-wont-sign-unvaccinated-players-its-a-real-mess/">unvaccinated player</a>. So there’s an implication for players’ livelihoods. Players who are unvaccinated may have limited choice not just in terms of where they can go and travel, but also in terms of the clubs that are prepared to sign them. So we’re entering unprecedented territory now. Other managers may follow Klopp’s lead. </p>
<p>Some managers will see the Djokovic decision as further evidence of the challenge that unvaccinated players pose to clubs. Another challenge for sport managers may be sponsors and partners, who may exert influence on athletes or teams if they have strong views on vaccinations. We see many sponsors end relationships with teams or players if they feel it is bad for their image.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovics-visa-cancelled-in-the-public-interest-with-possible-3-year-ban-from-australia-174968">Novak Djokovic's visa cancelled 'in the public interest', with possible 3-year ban from Australia</a>
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<p>Teams and organisations will also now think carefully about where they play or host matches. Teams will pay even closer attention to the regulations in countries and ensure that they have sufficient time to meet the requirements for isolation or bubbles. Countries that have stricter rules may look less appealing in the future.</p>
<p><strong>Will sports stars worry about their statements on vaccines making a difference to them playing?</strong></p>
<p>Players are very affluent. They’re young and feel indestructible. But they may think twice now about what they say on <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/697968">social media</a> about vaccines. It will be interesting to see how athletes who refuse to be vaccinated are viewed. Will it tarnish Djokovic’s image or, as is often the case, will he be forgiven and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2020.1733531">episode written</a> out of his story? </p>
<p><strong>Which countries with upcoming tournaments could be an issue in future?</strong></p>
<p>In Europe, Italy and Germany have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/countries-making-covid-19-vaccines-mandatory-2021-08-16/">vaccine mandates</a> and so tournaments there, or European club competition matches in these countries, may present challenges. France just <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59977978">relaxed its travel rules</a> but unvaccinated players are still required to isolate for ten days. This may be an issue for the Six Nations rugby tournament this spring. </p>
<p>Different state rules around the US may be a challenge for athletes. Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, for instance, cannot play in New York because of <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/09/01/unvaccinated-nba-players-in-cities-with-local-requirements-nyc-sf-will-not-play-in-games/">its regulations</a>, but he can play in the team’s away matches in most other states. </p>
<p><strong>Is this a sign that sports stars can’t always get around the rules?</strong></p>
<p>In the past, organisations like international football association FIFA and the International Olympic Committee have operated outside of borders and outside of the rules. Often no one holds them accountable. Clearly these celebrities do expect to have preferential treatment. So this visa wrangle may be a bit of a shock. </p>
<p>Ordinary people have to go through immigration, fill in forms ourselves and follow the rules. But when you’re idolised by millions around the world, it’s very difficult to think that the rules apply to you. Sports heroes have crossed over into the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430430802591001">realm of celebrity</a> but there’s a need for athletes to uphold society’s values.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Parry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s decision to revoke Novak Djokovic’s visa is likely to have implications for worldwide sports teams.Keith Parry, Deputy Head Of Department in Department of Sport & Event Management, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1745312022-01-14T09:20:58Z2022-01-14T09:20:58ZNovak Djokovic has long divided opinion. Now, his legacy will be complicated even further<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440180/original/file-20220111-19-2ov96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=119%2C9%2C2043%2C1523&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darko Vojinovic/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a <a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovics-path-to-legal-vindication-was-long-and-convoluted-it-may-also-be-fleeting-174603">convoluted</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-morrison-government-considering-whether-to-cancel-djokovics-visa-again-174604">shambolic</a> visa approval process, followed by <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/australian-open/awkward-text-message-missing-from-novak-djokovics-covid-defence/news-story/803f057cb43db573175339ecb6b9607a">questions</a> about his movements over the past month and the information provided to Australian border officials, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/novak-djokovic-visa-cancellation-decision-immigration-minister/100748386">cancelled</a> Novak Djokovic’s visa.</p>
<p>The decision is a major blow to Djokovic, who is tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the most ever by a male player. While his lawyers will attempt to challenge the latest visa cancellation, Djokovic is unlikely to chase history at his most successful Grand Slam tournament. </p>
<p>The decision is also a blow to the Australian Open. With Federer out with injury, Djokovic and Nadal were the prime draw cards in this year’s men’s tournament. If the top-ranked Serbian player and nine-time Australian Open champion is deported, some have feared serious repercussions for the longevity of the event.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1480638226503139329"}"></div></p>
<p>Critics have gone so far as to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-07/novak-djokovic-australian-open-analysis/100742052">theorise</a> global tennis powerbrokers might look elsewhere to host the “grand slam of the Asia-Pacific”, so as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] to be confident the tournament can proceed smoothly with strong levels of public and government support. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In that sense, the conservative MP and former professional tennis player <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-11/novak-djokovic-australia-government-urged-not-to-deport/100748848">John Alexander</a> had urged allowing Djokovic to stay in the country, arguing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Retaining the Australian Open as a grand slam event […] is in our national interest. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the Australian Open’s reputation certainly has taken a hit, its status as one of the four Grand Slam tournaments has plenty of support. The longer-term damage might be to Djokovic’s legacy.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-surrounding-djokovics-medical-exemption-means-star-can-expect-a-hostile-reception-on-centre-court-174331">extraordinary backstory</a> to his medical exemption from COVID vaccination to enter Australia – along with the <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/australian-open/djokovic-family-walk-out-of-press-conference-after-alarming-question/news-story/7c18532918e0be63d50fac42997d7aa6">many questions that have arisen</a> about his COVID infection in December – public opinion about him has swayed back and forth on a daily basis.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1481884227427717121"}"></div></p>
<h2>Courtside drama</h2>
<p>Djokovic has long been a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/59881229">polarising figure</a> in tennis. Despite his athleticism, endurance and mental toughness, he has sometimes been accused of <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/novak-djokovic-medical-timeouts-gamesmanship-cheating-perfectly-justified">gamesmanship</a>, “exaggerating” injuries to allow for medical pauses when an opponent has the momentum. </p>
<p>Like other players, Djokovic has also exhibited unruly behaviour on court, with occasional <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/09/us-open-final-novak-djokovic-racket-smash-meltdown">racket smashes</a>, as well as disqualification from the 2020 US Open after recklessly – albeit accidentally – smashing a ball into a <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/tennis/news/novak-djokovic-disqualified-from-2020-us-open-for-hitting-ball-at-line-judge-says-he-feels-empty-in-apology/">line judge</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Novak Djokovic checks a line judge after hitting her with a ball." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440183/original/file-20220111-27-rj7cqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Novak Djokovic checks a line judge after inadvertently hitting her with a ball in reaction to losing a point at the US Open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Seth Wenig/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compared with the much-loved Federer and Nadal, Djokovic has a <a href="https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/tennis-data-djokovic-cant-get-no-love/">narrower fan base</a>. At the Australian Open, he’s always had the effervescent support of Melbourne’s large Serbian diaspora, with their patriotic singing and flag-waving. But the mood of the rest of the crowd this year would likely have been mixed, with some undoubtedly voicing their hostility. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-surrounding-djokovics-medical-exemption-means-star-can-expect-a-hostile-reception-on-centre-court-174331">Secrecy surrounding Djokovic's medical exemption means star can expect a hostile reception on centre court</a>
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<hr>
<p>Indeed, local tennis fans would have good reason to chafe at Djokovic’s medical exemption from immunisation given the <a href="https://ausopen.com/covid-safe">stringent COVID protocols</a> they must follow to attend the Australian Open.</p>
<p>The tournament requires fans to be double-vaccinated or provide evidence of a <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/getting-proof-your-covid-19-vaccinations-if-you-cant-have-them-for-medical-reasons?context=60091">medical exemption</a>. However, unlike Djokovic’s peculiar defence, prior COVID status does not absolve local residents from the need to be double-vaccinated, with “<a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/immunisation-medical-exemptions?context=22436">previous infection</a>” no basis for an exemption.</p>
<h2>Grand slammed?</h2>
<p>Further complicating Djokovic’s legacy is the question of whether he’ll now face visa difficulties at the other tennis majors. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant may alter the rules for unvaccinated players in different countries and tournaments. </p>
<p>As things stand, Djokovic appears to face no vaccine-related impediment to competing at the French Open in a few months. The <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2022/01/07/novak-djokovic-is-able-to-play-the-french-open-but-what-about-wimbledon-and-the-us-open/">French sports minister</a> has said Djokovic “would be able to take part”, although unlike vaccinated players he would need to follow “<a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/france-says-djokovic-allowed-play-roland-garros-2421386">health bubble</a>” protocols. </p>
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<p>French President Emmanuel Macron, however, has made headlines by declaring he wants to “piss off” the unvaccinated – in part by mandating a “<a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/france-macron-piss-unvaccinated-covid19-2415411">health pass</a>” for public venues, a requirement for which is to be vaccinated. Whether Macron insists on changes for competitors at Roland-Garros remains to be seen.</p>
<p>As far as Wimbledon is concerned, unvaccinated international arrivals to the United Kingdom are currently required to take repeat COVID tests over several days, plus <a href="https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2022/01/update-uk-eases-travel-rules-for-the-fully-vaccinated">quarantine for ten days</a> at a residence of their choice. </p>
<p>Djokovic would, presumably, look to a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2022/01/07/novak-djokovic-is-able-to-play-the-french-open-but-what-about-wimbledon-and-the-us-open/">rent a house</a> with a lawn tennis court attached.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovics-path-to-legal-vindication-was-long-and-convoluted-it-may-also-be-fleeting-174603">Novak Djokovic's path to legal vindication was long and convoluted. It may also be fleeting</a>
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<p>The US Open seems less certain. The unvaccinated <a href="https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/32128601/vaccine-requirements-specific-new-york-city-san-francisco-enforced-teams-cities-nba-memo-says">are not permitted in specific indoor venues</a> in New York without a medical exemption. </p>
<p>So, if one of Djokovic’s matches on the showcourts at the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2022/01/07/novak-djokovic-is-able-to-play-the-french-open-but-what-about-wimbledon-and-the-us-open/?sh=36b2d48a660f">US Open</a> was affected by rain and the roof needed to be closed, it is not clear what organisers would do. He might be forced to forfeit the match.</p>
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<img alt="Djokovic at the US Open" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440184/original/file-20220111-21-x0a57l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Without getting vaccinated, Djokovic’s return to the US Open is far from certain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Seth Wenig/AP</span></span>
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<h2>The Djokovic legacy</h2>
<p>Given Djokovic has been less prone to injury than Federer or Nadal and is coming off one of his best years on tour, he is still likely to retire with the most men’s grand slam titles. If so, he can rightfully be feted as the greatest male tennis star of all time. </p>
<p>But <em>how</em> he will be remembered is a more complicated question. In one sense, Djokovic appears to revel in being depicted as the “arch-nemesis” of Federer and Nadal – it has fuelled his desire to surpass their grand slam title hauls.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-one-man-with-god-like-powers-decides-if-novak-djokovic-can-stay-or-go-174773">Why one man with 'god-like' powers decides if Novak Djokovic can stay or go</a>
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<p>Yet, for all his tennis greatness, Djokovic often attracts eye-rolling outside the court – not simply in relation to his views on vaccines, but the wider <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/fitness/how-science-sceptic-novak-djokovic-became-a-pin-up-for-the-anti-vaxx-movement/ar-AASuWiV">pseudo-scientific</a> ruminations that underpin his public pronouncements. </p>
<p>As the Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has put it, Djokovic seems “<a href="https://tennishead.net/novak-djokovic-is-a-very-strange-cat-says-nick-kyrgios-as-war-of-words-escalates-further/">a very strange cat</a>”. </p>
<p>The drama from the past week will have an effect on the way others view him, too. It will inflame his supporters, infuriate his detractors, and prompt even neutral observers to take a stand in respect to his entry to Australia. When it comes to Novak Djokovic, everyone will now surely have an opinion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Adair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With his Australian visa now cancelled for a second time, the tennis star will likely not be able to chase history at his most successful Grand Slam tournament.Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1749682022-01-14T08:06:42Z2022-01-14T08:06:42ZNovak Djokovic’s visa cancelled ‘in the public interest’, with possible 3-year ban from Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440821/original/file-20220114-19-1hz8n3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=431%2C39%2C3928%2C2758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Baker/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration Minister Alex Hawke announced late Friday he had cancelled tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa “on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”.</p>
<p>Djokovic’s lawyers immediately went to court to seek an injunction against his deportation. </p>
<p>The government had delayed all week responding to the Federal Circuit Court’s Monday quashing of the original decision by Border Force officials to cancel the Serbian player’s visa when he arrived in Australia.</p>
<p>The delay was partly due to extensive material provided by Djokovic’s laywers. But also, after being humiliated by the overturning of the initial visa cancellation, the government was anxious to make sure Hawke’s action would withstand a fresh challenge.</p>
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<p>There has been strong public reaction against Djokovic, which has also been a factor in the government’s thinking. But at a diplomatic level, Serbia reacted sharply against the initial cancellation of his visa. </p>
<p>Djokovic was seeking a tenth title at the Australian Open, which starts on Monday. The draw pitted him against a fellow Serbian player in the first round.</p>
<p>Hawke said in his Friday night statement: “The Morrison government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic”.</p>
<p>Djokovic, who is unvaccinated, obtained a medical exemption under a Tennis Australia and Victorian government process on the grounds he had tested positive for COVID last month and therefore did not need to be vaccinated. But this was not accepted by the federal government. </p>
<p>Hawke said: “In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic”.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison also released a statement expressing support for Hawke’s decision. </p>
<p>“This pandemic has been incredibly difficult for every Australian but we have stuck together and saved lives and livelihoods,” he said. </p>
<p>“Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected,” he added. “This is what the minister is doing in taking this action today.”</p>
<p>The federal government conceded in Monday’s court case that Djokovic had not received procedural fairness when he was interviewed at Melbourne’s airport upon arrival. The interview took place in the early hours on January 6, which meant he did not have the opportunity to contact advisers.</p>
<p>But while Border Force has come under criticism within the government over its handling of the matter, Hawke said pointedly in his statement, “I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments.”</p>
<p>The immigration minister has broad discretionary powers under <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s133c.html">section 133C (3) of the Migration Act</a> to cancel visas on public interest grounds, including on the grounds of health, safety or good order.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-one-man-with-god-like-powers-decides-if-novak-djokovic-can-stay-or-go-174773">Why one man with 'god-like' powers decides if Novak Djokovic can stay or go</a>
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<p>Following Hawke’s decision, the law dictates that Djokovic will not be able to be granted another visa for three years, except in certain circumstances. These include compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia or compassionate or compelling circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.</p>
<p>Hawke did not address whether Djokovic was likely to be able to obtain a visa before the end of the three-year period.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government has been anxious to ensure a second visa cancellation could withstand a fresh challenge from Djokovic’s lawyers.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1747732022-01-13T02:17:13Z2022-01-13T02:17:13ZWhy one man with ‘god-like’ powers decides if Novak Djokovic can stay or go<p>After Novak Djokovic’s visa was <a href="https://fedcourt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/95058/Order-Djokovic-v-Minister-MLG35-of-2022_10-January-2022-003.pdf">restored</a> by a Federal Court judge this week, the ultimate decision of whether he could stay in Australia rested with one person: Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.</p>
<p>The personal powers of the immigration minister to grant or cancel visas are so broad and powerful, they’ve been described as “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-should-not-play-god-evans-20080220-gds1tt.html">god-like</a>” by none other than a former immigration minister himself, Chris Evans. </p>
<p>A 2017 <a href="https://libertyvictoria.org.au/sites/default/files/LibertyVictoriaRAP_report_PlayingGodTheImmigrationMinistersUnrestrainedPower20170504_0.pdf">report</a> by the Liberty Victoria Rights Advocacy Project noted the immigration minister is granted more personal discretion than any other minister by an “overwhelming margin”. </p>
<p>This is not a new concern, either. In 1989, the then-immigration minister, Robert Ray, tried to amend the <a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s133c.html">Migration Act</a> to remove ministerial discretion from all immigration matters, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/minmig/report/c02">saying</a> </p>
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<p>The wide discretionary powers conferred by the Migration Act have long been a source of public criticism. Decision-making guidelines are perceived to be obscure, arbitrarily changed and applied, and subject to day-to-day political intervention in individual cases. </p>
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<p>The move was blocked, however, and the minister’s extremely broad powers have remained ever since. </p>
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<h2>Ministerial powers have only grown stronger</h2>
<p>Wide-ranging discretionary powers have been part of Australia’s immigration system since the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1901A00017">Immigration Restriction Act</a> was passed in 1901 and the subsequent Migration Act came into effect in 1958. Both of these laws gave wide discretion to the minister to grant or refuse visas. </p>
<p>After the failed attempt to remove these powers in 1989, legislative reforms brought in a new system for the granting, refusal and cancellation of visas. </p>
<p>However, some statutory discretion remained with the minister to allow flexibility to intervene when it was in the “<a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s351.html">public interest</a>”. This kind of intervention was intended for compassionate or humane reasons.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovics-path-to-legal-vindication-was-long-and-convoluted-it-may-also-be-fleeting-174603">Novak Djokovic's path to legal vindication was long and convoluted. It may also be fleeting</a>
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<p>And since 1989, the Migration Act has actually been amended several times to increase the personal power of the minister. </p>
<p>These powers are non-compellable (meaning the minister cannot be required by a court to exercise them). And if exercised correctly, the minister’s decisions are, in effect, unable to be reviewed by the courts. </p>
<p>This means, it will be very difficult for Djokovic’s lawyers to review Hawke’s decision if his visa is cancelled again.</p>
<h2>Controversial uses of power in the past</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, the Djokovic visa case is not the first time the minister’s decisions have courted controversy. In fact, there have been a number of parliamentary inquiries related to the use of these powers over the years. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/AuPairs">Most recently</a>, then-Immigration Minister Peter Dutton intervened to grant visas to two au pairs in 2015 who arrived on tourist visas and were facing deportation at the airport. A Senate committee <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-19/senate-committee-recommends-upper-house-consider-censuring-dutt/10283244">recommended</a> censuring Dutton after the inquiry found he misled parliament.</p>
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<p>In 2004, an <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/minmig/index">inquiry</a> was held after then-Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was involved in a so-called “cash for visas” scandal. Ruddock was accused of using his ministerial powers to grant visas to people represented by a travel agent who had donated money to the Liberal Party. He was eventually cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the affair.</p>
<p>Concerns were raised in both inquiries about the use of such ministerial powers and the lack of adequate accountability mechanisms, which creates “both the possibility and perception of corruption”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/peter-duttons-decisions-on-the-au-pairs-are-legal-but-there-are-other-considerations-102414">Peter Dutton's decisions on the au pairs are legal - but there are other considerations</a>
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<h2>Asylum seekers and ministerial intervention</h2>
<p>These ministerial powers have also been scrutinised when it comes to the plight of the refugees and asylum seekers who have been in various forms of detention since arriving by boat nearly a decade ago. Some of these people were held in the same Melbourne hotel where Djokovic was initially detained last week. </p>
<p>The Home Affairs Department has released data showing how many times the minister has <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2021/fa-210501180-document-released.PDF">used his power</a> under <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s195a.html">section 195A of the Migration Act</a> to release people from detention on temporary bridging visas. However, statistics are not available showing how many times refugees are granted more permanent visas by ministerial decree.</p>
<p>A parliamentary inquiry in 2018 <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/AuPairs/Report/c02">heard evidence</a> that cases of “obvious merit” involving asylum seekers were “given little consideration” for ministerial interventions.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most prominent case in Australia in recent years has involved a <a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-to-be-released-into-community-detention-what-happens-now-162661">Sri Lankan Tamil family</a> who had been living in the town of Biloela, Queensland, until their visas expired in 2018. </p>
<p>The family then spent two years in detention under threat of removal before Hawke, facing considerable public pressure, finally <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-15/tamil-family-murugappan-christmas-island/100215160">used his powers</a> to allow them to move into community detention last year. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-to-be-released-into-community-detention-what-happens-now-162661">Biloela family to be released into community detention - what happens now?</a>
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<p>Their lives remain in limbo, however, as they are currently in community detention in Perth with <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/renewed-calls-for-minister-to-intervene-in-biloela-family-case-following-djokovic-revelation/5f78f005-f824-4551-9fe9-27778d604f02">no certainty</a> they’ll be able to stay in Australia permanently. </p>
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<p>Asylum seekers should not be reliant on the minister to exercise unreviewable personal discretion in cases like this. As former Immigration Minister Ian MacPhee <a href="https://libertyvictoria.org.au/sites/default/files/LibertyVictoriaRAP_report_PlayingGodTheImmigrationMinistersUnrestrainedPower20170504_0.pdf">recently put it</a>, </p>
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<p>The sheer breadth of the minister’s discretionary power ensures that unfair decisions will be made in haste and rarely subject to objective review. The law and its practice is now unjust. It is un-Australian.</p>
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<p><em>Correction: an earlier version of this article said ministerial intervention was used in the case of a British family whose application for permanent residency was refused. This was incorrect and has been removed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previous received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p>The personal powers of the immigration minister to grant or cancel visas are extremely broad and powerful. And this isn’t the first time they’ve courted controversy.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1746552022-01-11T13:28:36Z2022-01-11T13:28:36ZNovak Djokovic: the legal problem of having one rule for some, another for everyone else<p>Since the start of the pandemic, anyone wishing to enter Australia has had to contend with one of the strictest immigration and quarantine regimes in the world. While requirements have been loosened for vaccinated visa-holders, tough rules remain in place for the unvaccinated. </p>
<p>Naturally, Australian residents and others around the world were surprised when unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYTe9fer_1K/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">announced</a> that he was travelling to Melbourne to defend his Australian Open title, having been exempted from quarantine requirements.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/04/novak-djokovic-secures-medical-exemption-to-play-in-australian-open-tennis">exemption granted to Djokovic</a> looked to many like the rules were being bent for the benefit of the rich and powerful in a way that wouldn’t have happened for an ordinary citizen. The virus hasn’t given him a free pass for being a high-profile tennis player – so why should immigration authorities? </p>
<p>While at the time of writing, the outcome of Djokovic’s visa troubles was uncertain, the double standard of rules raises a much bigger question about the philosophy of law: can the application of a rule be so unfair that we have no valid reason to follow it?</p>
<p>The issue of “one rule for them and another for the rest of us” raises its head frequently. Throughout the pandemic in the UK, the rich and powerful have claimed – often unbelievably – that their actions were permitted by rules that restricted the rest of us. Consider Dominic Cummings’ claim that his 50-mile round trip from Durham to Barnard Castle was a <a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dominic-cummings-insists-driving-barnard-20683836">“local journey”</a>, or Downing Street officials’ assertions that their late night cheese and wine gatherings were <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59577129">not parties, but work meetings</a>. </p>
<p>The consequences of a system where one rule appears to apply to a select few, and another to everyone else, were warned of by legal philosopher <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustav-Radbruch">Gustav Radbruch</a>. Given his service as German minister of justice during the Weimar Republic and later, as a respected legal academic, we would do well to draw from his views on how the law is made and upheld.</p>
<p>Radbruch suggested that a rule that does not treat like cases alike could be so unjust that it undermines the stability of the entire legal system. If the wider population thinks that a person is exempted from a rule for no good reason, everyone else would (rightfully) question the point of the rule. They may ask why they should continue to follow it – if enough people do this, the reason for having the rule in the first place disappears completely. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-how-dominic-cummings-trip-to-durham-damaged-trust-in-the-government-12044015">real drop</a> in public adherence to COVID guidelines following Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle is a good example of exactly this.</p>
<p>This phenomenon is not only damaging for the rule in question, but for the system as a whole. If citizens lack confidence in an individual rule, they may be more sceptical of other rules and refuse to follow them too. Before we know it, we may reach a critical mass where there is so much uncertainty about which rules ought to be followed at all that society will become ungovernable. </p>
<p>Radbruch <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3600538">concludes</a> that a rule that doesn’t treat like cases alike can’t be a law at all. This is because a key requirement of a legal system is that it needs to be stable, which means that people need to know what the law is and when it applies. If a rule doesn’t treat everyone equally, then it does the opposite and increases doubt and uncertainty about what the law even is. And if enough rules exist that create uncertainty about what the law is and when it applies, the system will collapse. A rule that undermines a legal system in this way can’t really be law at all, and legal officials shouldn’t create or uphold them. </p>
<h2>Send him home</h2>
<p>Radbruch would probably conclude that Djokovic’s exemption to Australia’s vaccination requirement was illegitimate and should be rejected. Treating like cases alike requires that we ask only whether Djokovic is vaccinated – he is not, so the government would be right to withdraw his visa. </p>
<p>Djokovic fans might claim that his recent COVID infection means his immunity is equivalent to vaccination and that this should be enough, but regardless of these details, the perception is clearly that Djokovic was treated differently from other visitors. Therefore, the validity of the rule is questionable.</p>
<p>The fact that the Djokovic case has been so ambiguous means we can’t fully understand what the law even is. The stability of our legal system depends on those who make the rules being transparent about those rules – and the reasons behind any exemptions.</p>
<p>COVID restrictions are already being questioned, and Djokovic’s situation deteriorates them further. <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/news/2021/jan/opinion-people-started-breaking-covid-rules-when-they-saw-those-privilege-ignore-them">Studies from almost a year ago show</a> that people already began to break COVID rules when they saw more privileged people getting away with flouting them. It is likely that this disillusionment will only increase as people’s patience wears thin.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Jowitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From tennis players to government officials, double standards in law have big-picture consequences.Joshua Jowitt, Lecturer in Law, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1746982022-01-11T09:27:01Z2022-01-11T09:27:01ZMorrison government investigating whether Djokovic made erroneous travel declaration<p>The Morrison government is now investigating the possible inaccuracy of Novak Djokovic’s travel declaration, as Serbia continues its pressure on Australia over the treatment of the tennis star.</p>
<p>Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić told Scott Morrison in a call on Tuesday morning Australian time that Djokovic’s rights should be respected. </p>
<p>Brnabić, who sought the call, asked Morrison to do all in his power to ensure Djokovic would have humane and dignified treatment in Australia, according to a report from a Serbian news agency. </p>
<p>A readout from Morrison’s office described the call as “constructive”. </p>
<p>“The PM explained our non-discriminatory border policy and its role in protecting Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the readout said.</p>
<p>“They both agreed to stay in contact on the issue, and to further strengthening the bilateral relationship.” </p>
<p>Djokovic’s visa was restored in a federal circuit court win on Monday, when the Commonwealth admitted Border Force had not afforded him procedural fairness last week when his visa was cancelled. </p>
<p>The cancellation was on the grounds he had not met the criteria for a medical exemption from vaccination. </p>
<h2>Attention turns to the word ‘no’</h2>
<p>But now official attention has also turned to his travel declaration.
The declaration asks arrivals, “Have you travelled, or will you travel, in the 14 days prior to your flight to Australia?” His form said no.</p>
<p>Djokovic, who lives in Spain, left from there for Australia on January 4, transiting through Dubai. Social media had him in Belgrade on December 25.
Border Force is looking into whether the information in the declaration was inaccurate. </p>
<p>Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is currently considering whether to use his discretion to cancel Djokovic’s visa again.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/novak-djokovics-path-to-legal-vindication-was-long-and-convoluted-it-may-also-be-fleeting-174603">Novak Djokovic's path to legal vindication was long and convoluted. It may also be fleeting</a>
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<p>The government concedes Border Force blundered on procedural fairness but it still contends Djokovic has not met the vaccination exemption criteria. </p>
<p>Hawke’s spokesman on Tuesday said the visa issue was “ongoing”. </p>
<p>The minister is considering a brief that contains material from both the Home Affairs department and Djokovic. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, despite the uncertainty about his prospects of playing in it, after his days of enforced confinement Djokovic is now back on court preparing for the Australian Open.</p>
<p>After Monday’s result, he posted on social media that “despite all that has happened, I want to stay and try to compete” at the Australian Open.</p>
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<p>“I remain focused on that. I flew here to play at one of the most important events we have in front of the amazing fans,” he said.</p>
<p>There are mixed views in the government on whether it should cancel Djokovic’s visa again.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/vaccinated-or-not-novak-djokovic-should-be-able-to-play-173060">Vaccinated or not, Novak Djokovic should be able to play</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Liberal backbencher and former professional tennis player John Alexander said that after the court outcome it would be a mistake for Hawke to use his ministerial power to deport Djokovic. </p>
<p>Alexander pointed the finger at Border Force, telling the ABC that “the person who processed Novak possibly made an error, late at night”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Asked whether he had travelled, or would travel, in the 14 days prior to his flight to Australia, Djokovic’s form said no.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1746042022-01-10T11:25:03Z2022-01-10T11:25:03ZView from The Hill: Morrison government considering whether to cancel Djokovic’s visa – again<p>A sense of proportion is a very useful quality in politics. In the case of Novak Djokovic, the Morrison government has lost that sense entirely.</p>
<p>Late Monday in the Federal Circuit Court, Judge Anthony Kelly quashed last week’s cancellation of the tennis star’s visa, done on his arrival in Australia to play in the Australian Open.</p>
<p>The judge read a minute, agreed to by both sides, which said Djokovic wasn’t given sufficient opportunity to respond at the border (the saga went through the early hours, when he couldn’t contact people).</p>
<p>With Djokovic’s court win, the government immediately faced an invidious choice – accept its humiliation or launch a fresh, hairy-chested offensive.</p>
<p>Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has the power to move, under his ministerial discretion, to cancel the now-restored visa. </p>
<p>On Monday night, a spokesman for Hawke said “the minister is currently considering the matter and the process remains ongoing”.</p>
<p>Surely, it would have been better for the government to just cut its losses at once. The speaker of Serbia’s parliament, Ivica Dacic, made some sense in saying “the process should have ended when the court ruled”.</p>
<p>Most Australians – in a highly vaccinated population – would struggle with the tennis star’s resistance to the jab. It seems perverse and irresponsible. Many would say he should not have been allowed to get on a plane to come to Australia, whether or not he had met the (unclear) technicalities of the medical exemption criteria. </p>
<p>All fair enough. But the government shenanigans after he was granted a visa and arrived at Melbourne airport blew the matter into a diplomatic incident, and the theatre of the absurd. </p>
<p>Some commentators argue the government calculated that throwing Djokovic out would be a political distraction from the horrors of the escalating Omicron crisis. </p>
<p>But really? Would people struggling with illness, the search for tests, and the disruption to employment and businesses, have their attention so readily diverted? Certainly not for more than an instant.</p>
<p>Looked at rationally, it is near impossible to understand why the government chose to get itself into this mess. Or why it left things hanging after the court decision.</p>
<p>It would be a stretch to argue Djokovic is a danger to public health. Earlier in the pandemic, the unvaccinated player might have been a COVID risk – that is, when we had more or less “suppressed” the virus. That’s hardly the case now, when the latest COVID wave is spreading – and being allowed by the authorities to spread – like wildfire.</p>
<p>The government may have wanted to use a tall poppy to reinforce that “tough-borders” message – you don’t get in if you don’t follow “the rules”, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. </p>
<p>But the evidence given in Monday’s court case indicated Djokovic arrived thinking he had followed the rules. And it turns out the government got its comeuppance from the court for not abiding by procedural rules. </p>
<p>Kelly declared during the hearing, “The point I’m somewhat agitated about is what more could this man have done” to comply with the rules. Anyway, it defies common sense to believe Djokovic would have undertaken the trip unless he thought things were in order. </p>
<p>The federal and Victorian governments, Tennis Australia, Border Force and Djokovic himself all share responsibility for this inglorious episode, which has been laced with confusion. </p>
<p>Assuming Djokovic arrived on a sincere misapprehension, the sensible course would have been for the government to have found a way through rather than resorting to its heavy handedness at the border. This has made Australia look like hicksville, and been bad for the reputation of the Australian Open. </p>
<p>Serbia mightn’t be France, but its president can also pack a punch when national pride is at stake. </p>
<p>Turning Serbia’s national hero into Australia’s national villain has been harder than the government thought. It’s become an own goal for the government’s latest “operation sovereign borders” chapter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Turning Serbia’s national hero into Australia’s national villain has been harder than the government thought. It’s an own goal for the latest “operation sovereign borders” chapter.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1746032022-01-10T10:11:42Z2022-01-10T10:11:42ZNovak Djokovic’s path to legal vindication was long and convoluted. It may also be fleeting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439928/original/file-20220109-15-yitdy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=288%2C11%2C2092%2C1751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamish Blair/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Novak Djokovic is – at least for now – free to defend his title at the Australian Open after Judge Anthony Kelly of the Federal Circuit and Family Court quashed the cancellation of his visa following an agreement between the tennis star’s lawyers and the government. </p>
<p>After a confusing day-long hearing involving dense legal arguments, Djokovic was ordered to be released from immigration detention on procedural grounds – the judge said he hadn’t been given enough time to contest the original cancellation of his visa last Thursday morning. </p>
<p>But this left unresolved the bigger question of whether Djokovic was entitled to rely upon a medical exemption from Tennis Australia to enter the country and compete in the tournament without being vaccinated against COVID-19.</p>
<p>It is entirely possible Djokovic’s success in these proceedings is a hollow victory, with the government’s lawyer flagging Immigration Minister Alex Hawke will now consider whether to exercise his personal power to cancel the tennis star’s visa for a second time.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1480477311623434242"}"></div></p>
<h2>Grounds to challenge the visa cancellation</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-10/djokovic-melbourne-court-battle-monday/100746234">saga</a> surrounding the nine-time Australian Open champion has gripped the sporting world since Djokovic was detained upon arriving in Melbourne last week due to questions about his <a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-surrounding-djokovics-medical-exemption-means-star-can-expect-a-hostile-reception-on-centre-court-174331">medical exemption</a> from vaccination to play in the tournament starting on January 17.</p>
<p>Djokovic was moved to immigration detention in Melbourne’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-09/park-hotel-detainee-speak-out/100745456">notorious Park Hotel</a> following the cancellation of his visa. His lawyers then lodged an application to challenge that cancellation through judicial review proceedings. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protest outside hotel where Novak Djokovic is being detained." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439930/original/file-20220109-13-19hwcqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters gather outside an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne where Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has been held since last week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamish Blair/AP</span></span>
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<p>The process of judicial review allows a judge to examine the lawfulness of government decision-making. It is a limited process, not concerned with whether a right, preferable or fair decision has been made, but only whether the decision followed the proper legal processes and requirements. </p>
<p>Before the hearing began today, Djokovic’s lawyers had <a href="https://www.fcfcoa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-01/MLG%2035%20of%202022%20-%20Applicant%27s%20submissions.pdf">put forth</a> eight distinct grounds for why, in their submission, the decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa was not lawful. </p>
<p>These included some technical issues, such as a contention the notice given to Djokovic to cancel his visa was invalid and the decision was based on nonexistent grounds under the Migration Act. </p>
<p>Similarly, his lawyers argued the process was unfair as Djokovic was “pressured” to agree to a decision on his visa without first consulting his lawyers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1480326248249249792"}"></div></p>
<h2>The bigger question around a medical exemption</h2>
<p>The substance of Djokovic’s challenge, however, revolved around his assertion that by testing positive to COVID-19 on December 16, he was exempt from any requirement to be vaccinated for six months. </p>
<p>His lawyers based this argument on guidelines set by ATAGI, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/12/atagi-advice-on-the-definition-of-fully-vaccinated.pdf">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>COVID-19 vaccination in people who have had PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection can be deferred for a maximum of six months after the acute illness, as a temporary exemption due to acute major medical illness. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In response, the government argued this approach was an inaccurate reading of the guidelines, saying that mere previous infection would not be enough to allow an unvaccinated person entry into Australia. In essence, the guidance provides for a deferment of vaccination, not a reason to avoid it altogether.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Commonwealth argued Djokovic’s reliance on the Tennis Australia exemption letter was misguided, and ultimately he did not provide sufficient information to justify entry without vaccination. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-surrounding-djokovics-medical-exemption-means-star-can-expect-a-hostile-reception-on-centre-court-174331">Secrecy surrounding Djokovic's medical exemption means star can expect a hostile reception on centre court</a>
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<p>The medical exemption from Tennis Australia was a matter of significant disagreement between the parties. In the hearing, Kelly seemed to show some deference to Djokovic’s argument, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Here, a professor and an eminently qualified physician have produced and provided to the applicant a medical exemption. Further to that, that medical exemption and the basis on which it was given was separately given by a further independent expert specialist panel established by the Victorian state government […] The point I am agitated about is, what more could this man have done?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Commonwealth argued that irrespective of what Tennis Australia or the Victorian government may have decided, it is the federal government’s decision whether a visa ought be cancelled on public health grounds. </p>
<p>And this highlights the significant powers of the federal government in immigration matters, and that ultimately, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/09/australian-government-fails-in-bid-to-delay-novak-djokovic-court-hearing-by-two-days">government’s court filings</a>, there is “no such thing as an assurance of entry by a non-citizen into Australia”. </p>
<h2>What could happen next</h2>
<p>Both sides agreed late in the day Djokovic hadn’t been given enough time to respond to the notification to cancel his visa. He was informed by border officials he would have until 8:30am on Thursday to respond, but his visa was cancelled at 7:42am. On this basis, Kelly ordered Djokovic to be released. </p>
<p>But the government’s lawyer immediately foreshadowed Hawke would consider using his personal power to cancel Djokovic’s visa again. </p>
<p>If such a decision is made, we should expect further litigation. Kelly said he expected to be “fully informed in advance” if he is required for future proceedings, ominously observing “the stakes have risen rather than receded”.</p>
<p>Kelly also noted Djokovic could be barred from re-entering Australia for three years if the personal power of the minister was used, though <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-court-case-live-updates-serbian-tennis-star-fights-to-play-in-2022-australian-open-20220110-p59n0m.html">reports suggested</a> this exclusion period could be waived.</p>
<p>For now, Djokovic is a free man. But it remains to be seen whether he will be spending the next few days on a tennis court or back in a federal court.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-cant-have-a-covid-vaccine-and-how-do-i-get-a-medical-exemption-168371">Who can’t have a COVID vaccine and how do I get a medical exemption?</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe McIntyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The tennis star was granted a reprieve on procedural grounds, but it left the larger question of his entitlement to a medical exemption from vaccination unanswered.Joe McIntyre, Associate Professor of Law, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1743312022-01-05T04:22:33Z2022-01-05T04:22:33ZSecrecy surrounding Djokovic’s medical exemption means star can expect a hostile reception on centre court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439430/original/file-20220105-23-13014n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/AP/Michael Probst</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Novak Djokovic, nine times Australian Open tennis champion, has confirmed via <a href="https://twitter.com/DjokerNole/status/1478319120626196482?s=20">social media</a> – after much speculation – that he will indeed be competing in the 2022 tournament. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-29/novak-djokovic-likely-to-skip-australian-open-over-covid-vaccine/100659384">sticking point</a> for him was the Victorian government’s requirement that all players be vaccinated, in the interests of reducing public <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-unvaccinated-friend-is-roughly-20-times-more-likely-to-give-you-covid-170448">transmission of COVID-19</a>. </p>
<p>A noted <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/novak-djokovic-tennis-anti-vax_n_5e9daf8cc5b63c5b587220db">anti-vaxxer</a>, Djokovic submitted a request for a medical exemption to the vaccine mandate, which has now been approved. In tennis parlance, a COVID wildcard will jettison Djokovic to Melbourne.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1478319120626196482"}"></div></p>
<h2>Djokovic’s rocky history with COVID-19</h2>
<p>In June 2020, Djokovic contrived a tournament, the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/paging-dr-djokovic-public-health-guru-pens-prescription-for-lockdown-fever-20210118-p56uxe.html">Adria Tour</a>, in the Balkans, as a response to the cancellation of many tennis events during the pandemic. It was organised by the Novak Djokovic Foundation, as a “<a href="https://www.essentiallysports.com/novak-djokovics-health-update-after-getting-infected-by-coronavirus-atp-tennis-news/">charity tour to help the coronavirus victims”</a>.</p>
<p>However, players and officials did not wear masks or socially distance – it was instead a party atmosphere. No surprise, then, that <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/novak-djokovic-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-covid-19/12386312">COVID broke out</a> among attendees. Djokovic and his wife Jelena were among those infected, with the tournament abandoned before it reached the finals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vaccinated-or-not-novak-djokovic-should-be-able-to-play-173060">Vaccinated or not, Novak Djokovic should be able to play</a>
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<hr>
<p>Being young and healthy, Djokovic’s body <a href="https://people.com/sports/novak-djokovic-no-longer-has-coronavirus-10-days-after-testing-positive/">handled the virus</a> in a way that others – the elderly and immune-compromised – often do not. Six months later, he competed at the 2021 Australian Open, although was annoyed at having to follow <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-issues-list-of-demands-for-quarantined-tennis-players-c-1978302">quarantine protocols</a>. The imposition did not impede the Serb’s on-court performance, for he left Melbourne with yet another major singles title. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439432/original/file-20220105-27-cjn03t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Djokovic’s discontent at quarantine requirements for the 2021 Australian Open did not impede his performance, with him winning the grand slam event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/AP/Hamish Blair</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the 2022 tournament, lengthy quarantine is not required for fully vaccinated players and officials. Yet, for Djokovic, the requirement to be vaccinated – as a condition of entry – was something he objected to. His father, speaking to Serbian media, described the rule as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-29/novak-djokovic-likely-to-skip-australian-open-over-covid-vaccine/100659384">tantamount to “blackmail”</a>.</p>
<p>Given that Djokovic has had COVID, what is the case for requiring him (and others) to be vaccinated? </p>
<p>In general, <a href="https://www.acsh.org/news/2021/03/19/natural-immunity-or-vaccination-better-15409">antibodies produced naturally</a> to fight COVID are effective in healthy patients, but their <a href="https://uspharmacist.com/article/heres-why-recovered-covid19-patients-still-need-two-shots-of-vaccine">longevity is uncertain</a>. By contrast, the <a href="https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/12/14/why-vaccine-can-provide-better-immunity-actual-infection-15214">antibody responses through vaccinations</a> – with boosters – are better understood. </p>
<p>The dual goal, of course, is to optimise personal protection and reduce the risk of transmission. So, this is about the health of the wider community, with individuals expected to commit to a greater good. After all, an unvaccinated person is <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-unvaccinated-friend-is-roughly-20-times-more-likely-to-give-you-covid-170448">“roughly 20 times more likely to give you COVID”</a> than someone who has been fully jabbed.</p>
<h2>How are medical exemptions assessed?</h2>
<p>So, what is the process for assessing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-cant-have-a-covid-vaccine-and-how-do-i-get-a-medical-exemption-168371">medical exemption</a> for a COVID-19 vaccine? Applications are first assessed by “<a href="https://www.lawinsport.com/topics/item/can-athletes-successfully-challenge-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-a-case-study-from-the-australian-open-2022?utm_campaign=Weekly%20Email%20Update&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=199211989&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9WNbIR5Vz7A4GS3Uijwu25qGIkR2qBv4BmPGVwHQGNHCnVe8YLwOPwlx20APVNMT9l2F4g7wOOmqcg_Or6u-3fhRsFkg&utm_content=199211989&utm_source=hs_email">an expert panel of doctors specialising in immunology, infectious diseases and general practice</a>”. Assuming they see merit in the submission, a second review is conducted by a government-appointed expert panel, known as <a href="https://www.lawinsport.com/topics/item/can-athletes-successfully-challenge-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-a-case-study-from-the-australian-open-2022?utm_campaign=Weekly%20Email%20Update&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=199211989&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9WNbIR5Vz7A4GS3Uijwu25qGIkR2qBv4BmPGVwHQGNHCnVe8YLwOPwlx20APVNMT9l2F4g7wOOmqcg_Or6u-3fhRsFkg&utm_content=199211989&utm_source=hs_email">the independent Medical Exemption Review Panel (IMERP)</a>. This panel’s job is to establish that the application meets the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) guidelines on medical exemptions to vaccination.</p>
<p>ATAGI has two guideline categories:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/11/atagi-expanded-guidance-on-temporary-medical-exemptions-for-covid-19-vaccines.pdf">acute major medical conditions that warrant a temporary medical exemption</a> </p></li>
<li><p>a permanent exemption arising from “<a href="https://www.health.vic.gov.au/medical-exemption-to-covid-19-vaccination-guidance-word">a medication contraindication to all COVID-19 vaccines available for use in Australia</a>”.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The first of these speaks to an individual having experienced a significant medical challenge, such as serious illness or surgery, that is likely to be temporary and can be reviewed six months later. </p>
<p>The second speaks to “medication contraindications” to “a component” of one of more of the three vaccines available in Australia, leading either to “anaphylaxis” or a “serious adverse event”. Those seeking an exemption for either of these scenarios need to “<a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2021L01484/e5035408-05ab-455f-bf3e-50715c2e877a">produce evidence provided by a medical practitioner</a>”.</p>
<h2>Shrouded in secrecy</h2>
<p>So, how is it that one of the world’s fittest athletes has been granted a COVID-19 vaccine medical exemption? By design, the public cannot know. Nor, it seems, can those who adjudicated on the medical merits of Djokovic’s case. That is because exemption submissions were “blinded”, which means those evaluating the application (should) have no idea whom they were assessing, and thus could be medically objective. </p>
<p>Tennis Australia’s chief executive Craig Tiley revealed 26 athletes had applied for exemptions for the Australian Open this year, “<a href="https://www.beinsports.com/au/tennis/news/tiley-defends-djokovic-exemption-decision/1809902">and a handful of those have been granted</a>”.</p>
<p>The decision was supported by the Victorian Department of Health as it was confirmed those given exemptions have a “<a href="https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/novak-djokovic-granted-medical-exemption-123900638.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHE7MkF4u3TPmm1ASb-fZzxjDVeX75jnqBwcqDvIaYDiZPVOiPl8SiPBemYqYZFZLE8wQweHJyBHmn8TiHQQrjPURmu5mujN8QcEre0PLdbAtRNWX6H8A0A2f22xragez3bi1Dl9ujisj2-HP4DWmsPCV66h6FpuGf0wFtmnVZLX">genuine medical condition</a>”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/self-entitled-prima-donnas-or-do-they-have-a-point-why-australian-open-tennis-players-find-hard-lockdown-so-tough-153631">Self-entitled prima donnas or do they have a point? Why Australian Open tennis players find hard lockdown so tough</a>
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<p>Of course, the public cannot automatically know who these individuals are because that information is protected by privacy conventions and laws around <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/confidentiality-and-privacy-in-healthcare">personal health data</a>. </p>
<p>In Djokovic’s case, though, he has indirectly revealed he is unvaccinated, given he has a medical exemption that permits him to travel to Australia and play at the open. This means Djokovic also has the <a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/information-overseas-travellers#travellers-who-are-fully-vaccinated">same quarantine status</a> as someone who is fully vaccinated. All that is required of him is a <a href="https://www.qantas.com/us/en/coronavirus/international-travel/australia-flights.html#coming-to-australia">COVID-19 test within 24 hours</a> of arriving in Australia and to isolate at his hotel until receipt of a negative result. He must then repeat that process 5-7 days after entering the country. </p>
<p>Other than avoiding “<a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/information-overseas-travellers#travellers-who-are-fully-vaccinated">high-risk settings</a>”, such as schools and aged-care homes, Djokovic is free to go about his business. In that sense, it is game, set and match to the Joker.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439433/original/file-20220105-13-1nwkq5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has revealed 26 players and support staff have applied for medical exemptions to this year’s Australian Open, with a handful of those granted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Joel Carrett</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>But how the medical exemption sits with the Australian public is <a href="https://twitter.com/jonzey0/status/1478319457445429248?s=20">combustible</a>. Many are infuriated by what they see as Djokovic’s hubris in seeking an exemption and, given his power and celebrity status in tennis, their lack of confidence that the correct medical decision was made.</p>
<p>Djokovic could, of course, choose to be candid with the Australian public, explaining to them the medical calamity that allows him to meet the exemption guidelines. But that would invite debate about the scientific merits of his case, so that seems unlikely. </p>
<p>As ever, Djokovic has positioned himself as a maverick, a sceptic of medicine and science while an advocate of alternative therapies, such as his belief in the transformative power of <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2019/02/08/celery-juice-health-claims/">celery juice</a> and the capacity of water to “<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/tennis/the-enigma-of-novak-djokovic-tennis-hero-turns-antagonist-in-time-of-covid-19/story-6y61sXaWrOcFkQopKxx8fL.html">react with human emotions</a>”. </p>
<p>“#Novax Djokovic” will have many human emotions to contend with when he walks onto centre court later this month.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Adair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the world’s fittest athletes has been granted a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open - but we cannot know why.Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1730602021-12-09T04:27:22Z2021-12-09T04:27:22ZVaccinated or not, Novak Djokovic should be able to play<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436567/original/file-20211209-159504-1j5ed0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=156%2C0%2C4105%2C3119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Brownbill/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Novak Djokovic told the media last week “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/you-ll-know-very-soon-djokovic-close-to-australian-open-decision-20211204-p59esh.html">you will know very soon</a>” if he is going to play in the Australian Open in January, for a chance to win a tenth title. He is on the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-08/australian-open-novak-djokovic-named-on-entry-list/100683516">list of entrants to the tournament</a>, but he has not yet clarified whether he will participate and under what conditions. </p>
<p>With the tournament set to begin in just over a month, speculation has been running wild regarding Djokovic’s vaccination status (he has declined to say publicly), as well as whether <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/medical-exemptions-not-a-loophole-for-privileged-tennis-players-merlino-20211208-p59ft8.html">special medical exemptions</a> could be provided to unvaccinated players to compete in Melbourne. </p>
<p>Tennis Australia has mandated all players must be vaccinated to play or provide a medical exemption. It has strongly denied any “loopholes” would be available to players seeking an exemption.</p>
<p>The Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula has reiterated the government’s top priority was the safety of the “<a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/australian-open/victoria-returns-serve-over-djokovics-fathers-vaccine-blackmail-claims/news-story/c5bc5ea756308f89157a82b729f64004">Victorian community</a>”. </p>
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<p>Yet, Djokovic’s unclear vaccination status – and his preeminent position in the sport – has (again) raised questions about vaccine mandates.</p>
<p>Djovokic’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, has called the mandates a form of <a href="https://au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis-australian-open-2021-novak-djokovic-fears-after-father-blackmail-claim-223619908.html">blackmail</a> and suggested his son will not play under these conditions. </p>
<p>Djokovic himself claims to favour freedom of choice, but his reluctance to be clear with Tennis Australia and the public obscures what should be a simple issue. His vaccination status shouldn’t matter – he should still be able to play. </p>
<h2>Special rules for elite athletes?</h2>
<p>Throughout the COVID pandemic, Tennis Australia and other sporting organisations have led the way in organising large-scale events in a safe and responsible way without them becoming COVID super-spreaders. </p>
<p>We should trust the organisations to work closely with the Commonwealth and state governments to develop COVID protocols that will allow sports to continue and keep locals safe. These should be bespoke rather than general, and could include a range of strategies other than vaccine mandates, such as masking, quarantines, social distancing, and COVID bubbles.</p>
<p>If Djokovic is unvaccinated, his entry into Australia would seemingly be against <a href="https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/travel-restrictions">Commonwealth policy</a>. But the government already makes exceptions for elite athletes in many ways. </p>
<p>This might rankle with everyday people – a separate and seemingly less rigorous border policy for athletes – but athletes have always had different rules when it comes to overseas travel and work. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tokyo-olympics-an-ethical-approach-will-determine-whether-athletes-should-get-vaccinated-ahead-of-the-public-153046">Tokyo Olympics: An ethical approach will determine whether athletes should get vaccinated ahead of the public</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/sportsperson-visa">Most countries have a special visa procedures for elite athletes</a>, for instance. Before COVID, athletes coming to Australia also bypassed many ordinary border rules around importing equipment and goods and earning money without long-term working rights. </p>
<p>These special rules have continued during the pandemic. Freedom for athletes to travel has been a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qhm27">cornerstone principle for many sporting organisations</a>, such as the International Olympic Committee. For example, the <a href="https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/32306937/organizers-detail-covid-19-rules-beijing-winter-olympics">IOC is currently working with the Chinese government</a> to allow travel for unvaccinated athletes for the 2022 Winter Olympics (with a 21-day quarantine), even though China’s borders have been closed to most other travellers.</p>
<p><a href="https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2021/05/06/travel-for-elite-athletes-during-covid-19-a-graphical-guide/">Extensive</a> <a href="https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2020/11/28/covid-19-rt-pcr-testing-for-elite-athletes-recommendations-for-elite-sport/?int_source=trendmd&int_medium=cpc&int_campaign=usage-042019">research</a> has been done by sporting organisations on how to host events like this safely.</p>
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<h2>A proven track record</h2>
<p>In Australia, who needs to be reminded athletes have already enjoyed special rules that made their travel possible when everyone else was locked down? </p>
<p>In 2020, AFL and NRL players – and in some cases, their families – travelled widely into <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/rugby-league/qld-government-under-fire-after-one-hundred-nrl-families-hop-over-closed-border-c-3828015">states with border lockdowns</a>. Australian athletes have also been the beneficiaries of special hotel quarantine provisions, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/australian-olympians-vaccines-priority-access-1.6003546">priority access to vaccinations</a>, and forewarnings from government officials about border closures. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-eve-of-an-aflm-grand-final-like-no-other-can-the-shadow-of-the-pandemic-make-us-strive-for-something-better-167792">On the eve of an AFLM grand final like no other, can the shadow of the pandemic make us strive for something better?</a>
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<p>Actors, business executives, and politicians have similarly had less onerous border and travel restrictions than ordinary Australians. These industries bring in valuable dollars, but they also serve important public functions, including providing entertainment and leadership. </p>
<p>Different rules might have set the stage for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nrl-should-reconsider-its-comeback-its-too-soon-137079">stadiums to become COVID super-spreaders</a>, but sporting organisations have proven their critics wrong. </p>
<p>For example, even without vaccines, the 2021 Australian Open was kept safe through the use of <a href="https://www.espn.com.au/tennis/story/_/id/30858061/australian-open-covid-19-faq-rules-testing-protocols-more">restricted fan zones, mandatory masking, social distancing, frequent testing of players and staff, electronic line calling</a>, and of course the much-maligned mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine on arrival.</p>
<p>The US Open <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/us-open-gives-tennis-australia-hope-for-having-unvaccinated-players-at-grand-slam-20211026-p593cf.html">did not mandate vaccines</a> for players this year. Players were instead tested when they arrived in the US and then every four days, and they were ordered into isolation if they returned a positive result. (Fans, however, were required to be vaccinated.)</p>
<p>Recently, Football Australia successfully navigated a COVID scare when <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-to-return-home-after-two-years-as-matildas-escape-covid-scare-20211028-p5943z.html">a Matilda tested positive</a> after returning to Sydney for a friendly match against Brazil. The protocols put in place – including isolating the positive player immediately – prevented any further spread and the Matildas hosted two successful games. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-olympics-still-be-cancelled-yes-but-the-legal-and-financial-fallout-would-be-staggering-161739">Can the Olympics still be cancelled? Yes, but the legal and financial fallout would be staggering</a>
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</p>
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<h2>What is the cost?</h2>
<p>Without special exemptions for athletes, our sporting organisations would take a major financial hit. </p>
<p>The NBA went ahead with its playoffs in 2020 with a COVID bubble (and without crowds), as did the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Cancelling both <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-olympics-still-be-cancelled-yes-but-the-legal-and-financial-fallout-would-be-staggering-161739">would have cost</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/10/20/report-nbas-bubble-prevented-15-billion-in-losses/?sh=3c951f433823">billions of dollars</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436581/original/file-20211209-19-19xd9j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The NBA playoff bubble cost some US$190 million to organise, but the NBA recouped US$1.5 billion in revenue that would have been lost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashley Landis/AP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>To be sure, COVID bubbles cost money, but they are justified due to the long-term financial benefits these events can bring. For instance, Tennis Australia reported <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-03/tennis-australia-100-million-loss-covid-australian-open/100671988">A$100 million in losses</a> from June 2020 to September 2021 due to cost of hosting the 2021 Australian Open. </p>
<p>However, in the past decade, the Australian Open has contributed more than <a href="https://ausopen.com/articles/news/ao-2020-delivers-record-benefits-victoria">A$2.7 billion</a> to the Victorian economy.</p>
<p>The 2022 Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam to require player vaccinations. Tournament director Craig Tiley’s position is understandable. Hemmed in by the need to protect his employees from the threat of infection, as well as his desire to work with the Victorian government, the Australian Open and Tennis Australia seem less receptive to risk than other sporting organisations.</p>
<p>However, the fact remains that COVID is already here. It is unlikely to be spread much further due to any sporting competition and we need to consider new ways of living with it, and each other, in the coming year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Rathbone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Throughout the pandemic, sporting organisations have proven they can organise large-scale events in a safe and responsible way, without mandated vaccines for athletes.Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1492032020-11-19T21:03:41Z2020-11-19T21:03:41ZPro tennis needs an organization that advocates for players’ health, safety and prize money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370385/original/file-20201119-14-1hl5idr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C5%2C3662%2C2484&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada's Vasek Pospisil returns a shot to Italy's Jannik Sinner, during the final match of the 2020 Sofia Open on Nov. 14, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In August 2020, on the eve of the U.S. Open Championship, professional tennis players Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil resigned from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) player council. In a <a href="https://www.ubitennis.net/2020/08/exclusive-full-details-of-novak-djokovics-letter-to-players-as-stand-off-with-federer-and-nadal-emerges/2/">letter sent to players</a>, Djokovic and Pospisil announced the formation of the new Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA).</p>
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<p>Approximately <a href="https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/29904981/djokovic-confirms-talks-atp-chief-players-body-move-ahead">200 men and women tennis players</a> have signed an expression of interest to join the association. The PTPA aims to be <a href="https://www.tennismajors.com/news/vasek-pospisil-exclusive-ptpa-interview-289067.html">an independent body that will advocate on behalf of players</a>, prioritize athlete health and safety, and increase prize money distribution and financial transparency in the sport.</p>
<h2>Conflicts of interest</h2>
<p>Professional organizations that govern tennis — the ATP and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) — claim adequate representation is provided to athletes within their current governance structures and therefore forbid tennis players to form unions. The <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/corporate/structure">ATP’s governance structure</a> includes a chairperson, three player representatives and three tournament representatives. Player representatives are corporate partners such as tournament directors and media personnel, elected to the board by the ATP player council. </p>
<p>Corporate partners representing players is a conundrum: their board seat means they must advocate on behalf of athletes, but they may have conflicting business interests.</p>
<p>The current <a href="https://fr.reuters.com/article/tennis-atp-int/murray-named-among-replacements-in-atp-player-council-idUSKBN26X2D9">ATP player council</a> includes four players elected in 2018 and four players selected by those already on the council without a general member vote. </p>
<p>Some player council members and other active players on tour have ties to tournaments, further muddying the waters. For example, Austria’s Dominic Thiem is represented by Herwig Straka, who is the tournament director of the Vienna ATP 500 event and holds a position on the ATP board. </p>
<p>Roger Federer is on the ATP player council and he’s another example of an active player with ties to tournaments. He is the founder of <a href="https://lavercup.com/">the Laver Cup</a>, an ATP-sanctioned, exhibition-style tournament held annually. The Laver Cup is managed by Trident8, an affiliate of Federer’s TEAM8 Global Management firm.</p>
<p>Through the Laver Cup, Federer is also connected to the organizers of the Australian Open Championship. Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia) is on
<a href="https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.trident8_limited.2a8a957f72b305713dbe25904d3a3b39.html">Trident8’s board of directors</a>, along with Gordon Smith (ex-CEO, U.S. Tennis Association) and Anthony Godsick (Federer’s agent and business partner).</p>
<h2>Following the money</h2>
<p>The primary source of revenue for most tennis players is prize money. Revenue sharing in tennis refers to prize money earned by players as a percentage of the total revenue of the tournament. <em>New York Times</em> reporter Christopher Clarey <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/sports/tennis/grand-slam-prize-money.html">highlighted the disparity</a> in revenue sharing using the U.S. Open financials. In 2018, the U.S. Tennis Association reported approximately US$380 million in revenue and paid US$53 million in prize money, which equates to 13.94 per cent. Men and women competing at the tournament received just under seven per cent each.</p>
<p>Other Grand Slams follow a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alikocarter/2016/01/20/grand-slam-2016-tennis-four-majors-by-the-numbers/?sh=25de96f67b0a">similar pattern of disparity</a> between revenues earned and prize money awarded to players.</p>
<p>In contrast, revenue sharing between players and the league is significantly higher in other sports: <a href="https://blogs.fangraphs.com/after-years-of-profits-mlb-owners-ask-players-to-subsidize-potential-losses/">48 per cent in Major League Baseball</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2020/03/15/nfl-nflpa-vote-approve-cba-17-game-regular-season/5045997002/">48 per cent in the National Football League</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/29/nbas-strong-relationship-with-its-players-could-prevent-collective-bargaining-issues.html">49 to 51 per cent in the National Basketball Association</a> depending on league income, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/escrow-players-nhl-labour-talks-1.5177705">50 per cent in the National Hockey League</a> and approximately 34 per cent in the Professional Golf Association (calculated based on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2013/05/08/the-pga-tour-a-not-for-profit-money-machine/?sh=6d85497d5733">2013 revenue of US$1 billion</a> and <a href="https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2020/01/11/truth-behind-tournament-paychecks-pga-tour-lpga/">2018-19 prize money of US$343 million</a>).</p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="https://www.atptour.com/en/atp-challenger-tour/challenger-news/what-is-the-atp-challenger-tour-2019">prize money at challenger events</a> and smaller tournaments is minuscule and often doesn’t cover a competitor’s travel or accommodation costs. In a recent interview, Pospisil highlighted the ATP’s <a href="https://www.tennismajors.com/news/vasek-pospisil-exclusive-ptpa-interview-289067.html">lack of financial transparency</a>. He discussed the organization’s refusal to share financials from ATP 1000 events despite previous promises to do so.</p>
<h2>Players’ health and safety</h2>
<p>Tennis players often discuss their health and safety in the context of playing conditions on court. There are various examples of players voicing their concerns at different tournaments. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/14851173">2011 U.S. Open</a> was marred by heavy rains in New York, leading to a condensed schedule. Marquee players were forced to play more often and on smaller courts that lacked the technology to challenge line calls. The 2014 Australian Open saw nine first-round withdrawals — a record number — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/15/australian-open-2014-heat-withdrawals">due to extreme heat</a>. Similar complaints were voiced by players <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/13/australian-open-2019-heat-and-tie-break-rule-changes-explained">in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The recently concluded French Open had players expressing their disappointment with <a href="https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/roland-garros/2020/french-open-2020-novak-djokovic-keeps-cool-to-win-rain-affected-match-against-daniel-elahi-galan_sto7920421/story.shtml">wet and slippery court conditions</a> and <a href="https://www.tennisnet.com/en/news/french-open-2020-zverev-and-thiem-agree-new-york-beats-paris">tournament-mandated accommodation</a> that was accessible to the general public. </p>
<p>There was also inconsistency around COVID-19 testing, leading to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennis-frenchopen-verdasco-idUSKBN26K3F6">legal challenges</a> against tournament organizers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2A3k1uwGKOw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">During a news conference, Novak Djokovic mentioned that COVID-19 testing was confusing.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Advocating for players</h2>
<p>Professional sports leagues in North America have players associations that advocate for athletes. The <a href="https://nflpa.com/about">National Football League Players Association</a> was formed in 1956, the <a href="https://nbpa.com/about">National Basketball Players Association</a> in 1957, the <a href="https://www.mlbplayers.com/about">Major League Baseball Players Association</a> in 1965 and the <a href="https://www.nhlpa.com/the-pa/what-we-do">National Hockey League Players’ Association</a> in 1967. These associations have established a minimum wage, health-care and pension plans, per diems for away games, revenue-sharing models and salary increases.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
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</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Tennis tournament organizers aim to maximize revenues by attracting fans. This is best achieved by promoting top players. Tournaments have no incentives to consider the health and safety or care about the financial viability of the larger pool of players. This make it difficult for all players’ rights to be respected and valued unless players unite and demand them.</p>
<p>Currently, the ATP governance structure promotes the corporate interests of tournaments, which in turn promote and protect the interests of select top players. It’s about time for an organization like the PTPA to emerge that can seek accountability from the ATP and WTA in matters affecting competitive athletes.</p>
<p>By improving playing conditions, prioritizing player health and safety and ensuring the fair distribution of prize money, a healthy competition culture will benefit all and improve the sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Swarali Patil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The establishment of a professional tennis players’ association that advocates on behalf of professional athletes brings to the foreground the conflict between athletes’ needs and corporate interests.Swarali Patil, PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant, School of Kinesiology, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1420032020-07-10T15:05:44Z2020-07-10T15:05:44ZTennis has had a golden generation – but not a golden era<p>It is established wisdom in boxing that “styles make fights”. The best fights involve opponents of contrasting skills and abilities. Classic rivalries such as Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier and, most recently, Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder pitted “boxers” (technicians who rely on boxing craft) against “punchers” (street fighters who rely on punching power).</p>
<p>What is true in the boxing ring is also true on the tennis court: many of the greatest tennis rivalries have also comprised players of markedly different styles. Björn Borg v John McEnroe, Chris Evert v Martina Navratilova, and Pete Sampras v Andre Agassi all matched up a serve-and-volleyer against a baseliner. These rivalries ran deeper than the closeness of their contests. They showcased two fundamentally different philosophies of tennis.</p>
<h2>A golden era?</h2>
<p>We are told that this is a <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-tennis-frenchopen-rivalries/in-golden-era-of-tennis-rivalries-nadal-djokovic-stands-out-says-wilander-idUKKCN1T60YU">golden era for tennis</a>. In many ways, this is readily apparent. Tennis athletes have never been fitter, rivalries have never been more intense, and four players of this era – Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams – have a legitimate claim to be the “greatest of all time”. This has truly been a golden generation of tennis players. But it has not been a golden era for tennis.</p>
<p>The ethics of how sports are allowed to develop and what should count as “progress” are central preoccupations of my academic research in the <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/engineering/devine-j-w/">philosophy of sport</a>. A golden era for a sport should showcase the full spectrum of skills and abilities – of excellences – that the sport makes possible. </p>
<p>By contrast, in this tennis era, the spectrum has narrowed so that all viable playing styles are fundamentally anchored to the baseline. Serve-and-volley tennis has disappeared, and all realistic grand slam title contenders are baseliners of one kind or another. The sport is more uniform in how it is played than at any other point in the professional era. </p>
<p>This narrowing of excellence is a problem because it limits how a player can express themselves. Sports present obstacles for players to overcome using their skill, guile, tenacity, and physical prowess. Constraints created by the rules and by one’s opponent place obstacles in the way of scoring a goal, shooting a basket, or hitting an ace.</p>
<p>The demise of serve-and-volley tennis over the last two decades has shoehorned tennis players into choosing from among a small group of playing styles and it has effectively excluded those whose skill set does not fall within the smaller cluster of excellences that remain relevant in the sport. By narrowing the spectrum of viable strategies, the sport is diminished, not only as an avenue for testing and showcasing a variety of different excellences, but also as an avenue for self-expression.</p>
<h2>Serve-and-volley tennis</h2>
<p>Serve-and-volley tennis is inherently confrontational. It narrows the physical space between opponents as one approaches the net, it quickens the exchange of shots, and it poses a challenge to “hit past me or through me”. The best serve-and-volleyers are relentless – they return to the net point after point, laying down the same challenge anew. </p>
<p>The beauty of this style lies precisely in its lack of surprise. It was entirely predictable that Pete Sampras or Martina Navratilova would attack the net after their serve. Everyone, especially their opponents, knew this. And they knew that their opponent knew this. But they did it anyway. Like a football goalkeeper, they challenged their opponent to defy the odds and find that tiny spot beyond their reach – point after point.</p>
<p>However, net play is now a dying art. No serve-and-volleyer, male or female, has won a grand slam since Sampras’s last <a href="https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/feature-serve-and-volley-tennis-rises-from-the-dust-in-melbourne_sto6029931/story.shtml">US Open victory in 2002</a>. Lighter, more powerful rackets, polyester strings, and the introduction of slower court surfaces and balls have shifted the odds heavily in favour of the baseliner and against the net rusher. </p>
<p>Polyester strings, in particular, have made it easier than ever before for players to generate enormous spin. This spin in turn allows the baseliner both to dip the ball sharply over the net at the volleyer’s feet and to find previously impossible angled passing shots. The sight of Djokovic or Williams straining every sinew to reach the ball and then, at full stretch, hitting a sharp-angled passing shot for a clean winner is perhaps the defining image of modern tennis.</p>
<h2>Achieving a balance of excellences</h2>
<p>Any complex sport must allow different styles of play to flourish. Within the possible arrangements of the rules, there is an ideal balance – an equipoise – that allows a variety of styles a realistic prospect of success. When a sport achieves such a “<a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/45/8/637">balance of excellences</a>”, one style is not favoured to the extent that others are rendered redundant. </p>
<p>However, tennis authorities have allowed the development of equipment to run ahead of reflection on their effects, so that one of the sport’s fundamental playing styles has become an historical curiosity, not the foundation of a serious game plan. Approaching the net is now used as little more than an occasional surprise play. Stewards of the sport have failed in their duty to manage its evolution so that all of the excellences that define the game are preserved. </p>
<p>Serve-and-volley tennis was not a feature of the sport from its inception, and it only came to prominence in the 1950s. However, it presented a genuinely innovative way to explore court geometry. Such innovation should not be consigned to the scrapheap.</p>
<p>This is a golden generation of tennis greats who have brought baseline play to a point of perfection, but this era boasts strikingly little diversity in playing styles. Perhaps we have gone too far for a recalibration, but swimming has banned full body 100% polyurethane suits, and golf has banned the anchored putting technique, so why can’t tennis reconsider rackets, strings, courts and balls so that net rushers once again have a fighting chance?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John William Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Baseliners are too dominant. A true golden era would see more clashes between different playing styles.John William Devine, Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1279912020-01-19T19:00:56Z2020-01-19T19:00:56ZWho can break up the ‘Big 3’ monopoly on men’s tennis? Here’s what the numbers say<p>As the Australian Open gets underway, one question on every tennis fan’s mind is whether 2020 will be yet another year dominated by the “Big 3”, the nickname given to the three most accomplished players of the Open era – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. </p>
<p>That success can be best captured by their results at the Grand Slams. Since 2003, the year Federer won his first major title at Wimbledon, there have been 68 majors up for grabs and the Big 3 have collectively won 55 of them – or about 80%.</p>
<p>Federer now has 20 major singles titles, making him the all-time Grand Slam leader among the men, though Nadal (19) and Djokovic (16) are not far behind. </p>
<p>What is especially remarkable is that, with a total of 104.8 years between them, the Big 3 are still at the top of the ATP world rankings. And they will be the favourites to win yet another Grand Slam trophy at this month’s Australian Open as the top three seeds.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>
Player
</th>
<th>
World Ranking
</th>
<th>
Current Age
</th>
<th>
Grand Slam Finals (2003 - Present)
</th>
<th>
Grand Slam Titles (2003 - Present)
</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Rafael Nadal
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
<td>
33.6
</td>
<td>
27
</td>
<td>
19
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Novak Djokovic
</td>
<td>
2
</td>
<td>
32.7
</td>
<td>
25
</td>
<td>
16
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Roger Federer
</td>
<td>
3
</td>
<td>
38.5
</td>
<td>
31
</td>
<td>
20
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>The ‘Next Gen’ players most likely to succeed</h2>
<p>Although many will expect another Grand Slam sweep by the Big 3 this year, the 2019 season ended with strong indications that the reign of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer could be nearing its end. </p>
<p>The main indicators were several big results from a young crop of players. Seven players born after 1990 all had victories over one or more of the Big 3 last year – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov. </p>
<p>Matteo Berrettini can also be added to this group for breaking into the Top 10 and reaching the ATP Finals, despite still having no wins over the Big 3. </p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>
Generation Next Player
</th>
<th>
Birth Year
</th>
<th>
Country
</th>
<th>
Career Wins Over Big 3
</th>
<th>
2019 Wins Over Big 3
</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Stefanos Tsitsipas
</td>
<td>
1998
</td>
<td>
GRE
</td>
<td>
5
</td>
<td>
4
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Alexander Zverev
</td>
<td>
1997
</td>
<td>
GER
</td>
<td>
8
</td>
<td>
2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Andrey Rublev
</td>
<td>
1997
</td>
<td>
RUS
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Daniil Medvedev
</td>
<td>
1996
</td>
<td>
RUS
</td>
<td>
2
</td>
<td>
2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Matteo Berrettini
</td>
<td>
1996
</td>
<td>
ITA
</td>
<td>
0
</td>
<td>
0
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Nick Kyrgios
</td>
<td>
1995
</td>
<td>
AUS
</td>
<td>
6
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Dominic Thiem
</td>
<td>
1993
</td>
<td>
AUT
</td>
<td>
13
</td>
<td>
6
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Grigor Dimitrov
</td>
<td>
1991
</td>
<td>
BUL
</td>
<td>
3
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>One of the notable achievements of these “Next Gen” players (as the ATP Tour calls the younger stars) was a combined 3-2 record against the Big 3 in Grand Slams last year. Djokovic lost to Thiem at the French Open, while Federer fell to Dimitrov at the US Open and to Tsitsipas at the Australian Open. </p>
<p>The two “Next Gen” losses both came in the finals and both at the hands of Nadal: Thiem at the French Open and Medvedev at the US Open.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-tennis-players-go-pro-even-though-few-make-it-88243">Why so many tennis players go pro even though few 'make it'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These rising stars reached their greatest heights in the last quarter of the season. Three “Next Gen” players eliminated the Big 3 before the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters, something that has only happened 11 times out of 72 Masters events played since 2011. </p>
<p>The four who did reach the Shanghai semifinals – Thiem, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Berrettini – were also the four youngest players to qualify for last year’s ATP Finals, where only the top eight players in the world compete.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309813/original/file-20200114-103979-18vt75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tsitsipas has five career wins over the Big 3, including a victory against Federer at last year’s Australian Open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Hunt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rating players over their careers</h2>
<p>A Grand Slam title is the final milestone – and the most difficult – for a “Next Gen” player to achieve. Could 2020 be the year when one of them finally breaks through? And who are the best prospects among them?</p>
<p>One indicator is the journey each of the Big 3 took before their maiden Grand Slam titles. This can show us which up-and-comers are following a similar path. </p>
<p>Player ratings, a statistical measure of a player’s strength at any point in time, are a <a href="http://vuir.vu.edu.au/34652/1/jqas-2015-0059.pdf">great way to trace a career journey</a> because they are updated with every new result and adjusted for the strength of a player’s opponents, which makes cross-generational comparisons possible. </p>
<p>Most of the top 100 male players in the world are currently rated between 2,000 and 2,300 points on the scale. The Big 3 are far ahead of the field, however, with ratings between 2,560 and 2,670. Djokovic has the highest rating going into the Australian Open, after his success at the ATP Cup earlier this month. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-numbers-game-how-ash-barty-became-the-worlds-best-female-tennis-player-119381">The numbers game: how Ash Barty became the world's best female tennis player</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When we chart the ratings of the Big 3 from age 18 until they won their first Grand Slam, we can see each took a different course to get there (these are indicated by the blue lines in each panel below). </p>
<p>Nadal exploded onto the scene, winning his first French Open title in 2005 before his 19th birthday. Djokovic was next-fastest, getting his first major title at the 2008 Australian Open at just 20 years old. Federer, meanwhile, had the longest journey to his first major title, which he didn’t win until Wimbledon in 2003, when he was two months away from his 22nd birthday. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309817/original/file-20200114-103959-vnqbc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nadal and Federer before their semifinal match at the 2005 French Open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olivier Hoslet/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite these differences, there were some important commonalities in the ratings of the Big 3 heading into their maiden major win. </p>
<p>Six months before this milestone, all had a rating between 2,000 to 2,200 points and all saw an increase in their rating over that time period of 100 points or more. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1800&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309902/original/file-20200114-103990-17hpw08.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1800&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>Which younger players are poised for a breakthrough?</h2>
<p>If we look at the same trajectories for the best prospects of the players born in the 1990s, we find that three of them, Dimitrov, Kyrgios and Thiem, have already surpassed the ages of the Big 3 when they won their first majors. </p>
<p>Tsitsipas and Rublev, by contrast, are the only two among the younger players who still have a chance to stay on track with the progress of one of the Big 3. Tsitsipas’ player rating trajectory is most similar to Djokovic’s path, while Rublev’s chart is tracking closely to Federer’s so far. </p>
<p>Medvedev and Thiem have taken longer in their careers to get closer to the Big 3’s Grand Slam results, but the upward trend of their player rating trajectories indicate a breakthrough could be in the making. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/youll-never-see-another-teenage-tennis-champ-heres-why-21529">You'll never see another teenage tennis champ – here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is especially true for Medvedev, the younger of the two. His player rating plateaued at age 21, much like Federer. Since then, however, he has amassed hundreds of rating points in a short time and has reached one Grand Slam final. </p>
<p>He is now just a few points shy of 2,500, a rating on par with Nadal and Djokovic around the time of their the first Grand Slam wins. On the basis of his ratings curve, Medvedev would seem overdue for a Major win. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309819/original/file-20200114-103971-xi3sq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medvedev is currently ranked a career-high No. 4 in the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Himbrechts/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That is even more the case for Thiem, who is the only other player among the eight with a current rating over 2,400. His comparatively longer journey to a Grand Slam title could be the result of playing in the same era as Nadal, the “King of Clay”. Thiem, a clay court specialist, has come up short to Nadal twice in the French Open final (2018, 2019). </p>
<p>Rublev and Berrettini have only recently surpassed a rating of 2,250, and both are remarkable in how quickly they have risen in recent months. </p>
<p>The paths of Zverev and Kyrgios, on the other hand, were tracking parallel to Djokovic’s until age 21. Since then, however, they have each seen a downturn in their results, putting their hopes for a major title in 2020 in serious doubt. </p>
<p>Of course, no two player paths are exactly alike, so we can never exclude any of these “Next Gen” players from future greatness. But if history does repeat itself, there is a reason to expect big things from Tsitsipas, Medvevdev, Rublev and Berrettini this tennis season.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Kovalchik works for Tennis Australia.</span></em></p>Since 2003, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have combined to win 55 of the 68 Grand Slams that have been played. Is this the year for a new player to break through?Stephanie Kovalchik, Senior Data Scientist, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/566432016-03-22T13:50:12Z2016-03-22T13:50:12ZDjokovic business case for higher men’s pay in tennis harms equality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116001/original/image-20160322-32309-lek7up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Djokovic: men deserve more.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-306712253/stock-photo-montreal-august-novak-djokovic-of-serbia-during-his-final-match-loss-to-andy-murray-of.html?src=I3uXDKIDkjb9a-St9552LQ-1-85">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a controversial yet thought-provoking comment, world number one Novak Djokovic has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35859791">questioned the equality of prize money in tennis</a>, suggesting that men should be paid more as they have more spectators. Djokovic made the remarks following the furore created by Raymond Moore, CEO of the Indian Wells tournament, who said that women players <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/20/raymond-moore-indian-wells-wta-sexist-remarks">rode on “the coat-tails”</a> of the men’s game. Moore has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35868662">since resigned</a>.</p>
<p>Djokovic <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/novak-djokovic-male-tennis-players-should-be-paid-more-because-they-sell-more-tickets-a3208071.html">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Stats are one of the … reasons why maybe we should get awarded more. As long as it is like that and there is data and stats available and information … upon who attracts more attention, spectators, who sells more tickets and stuff like that, in relation to that it has to be fairly distributed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/21/novak-djokovic-indian-wells-equal-prize-money-tennis">further said</a> that male players should follow in the footsteps of the female players who “fought for what they deserve and they got it. On the other hand, I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve.”</p>
<p>Djokovic’s comments can be analysed from <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/managing-diversity-and-inclusion/book242777">two perspectives on diversity</a>: the business case and social justice case.</p>
<p>From a purely business perspective, the argument that viewing statistics may be used to determine fair distribution of prizes at joint events seems to be credible. This is broadly consistent with the human resource management principle of <a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/performance-related-pay.aspx">pay for performance</a> or commission for sales. However, this argument fails to make or promote the case for why equality and diversity matters in business. </p>
<p>Women historically have been stereotyped and disadvantaged in all fields of life, including sports, and part of overcoming this is to accommodate and value differences between the sexes. A neglect of gender <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40320588?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">differences results in the sameness orientation</a>, the idea that everyone has to be seen as the same regardless of their diversity. This may be problematic because women’s and men’s issues and life cycles (such as their needs for parental leave and work life balance) are not, and must not, be treated as identical.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while Djokovic alluded to physical differences between women and men when he said “their bodies are much different to men’s bodies. They have to go through a lot of different things that we don’t have to go through … the hormones and different stuff”, he does not mention the long historical disadvantage that women have had due to these very differences – and how they are perceived. He seems to ignore that these differences need to be valued for greater equality and inclusion, instead of being used to reinforce and augment existing gender gaps – not only in sports but also in entertainment, employment, politics and leadership.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116002/original/image-20160322-32306-1wrria5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unfair evaluation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-364308791/stock-photo-one-male-and-two-female-figurines-standing-on-piles-of-coins-hero-look-income-inequality-concept.html?src=N0xpo8GvvqefAE6shjf_zg-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From a <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9229081&fileId=S1833367200002479">social justice perspective of diversity</a>, it is unfair that women should be evaluated and paid less for their anatomical differences, and the fact that hormones – although he did not expand, it would seem plausible that he was including periods – can <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11359785/Periods-in-sport-I-worry-about-getting-mine-at-Wimbledon..html">affect women’s training and performance</a>. </p>
<p>Life cycle and anatomical differences should not be used to penalise sportswomen – or any woman <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/10192274/Warning-maternity-leave-can-damage-your-career.html">whose career is adversely affected due to maternity leave</a> and traditional family roles. Accommodation of gender differences may already be arguably reflected in Grand Slams where women play only three sets or <a href="http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2012/07/should-men-and-women-be-segregated-in-professional-sports/">the lack of men vs women tournaments</a> in professional tennis and football. </p>
<p>The fact that the resale price of Wimbledon debenture seat tickets for the men’s finals <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-55666/2-667-cost-Wimbledon-seat.html">is usually two to three times higher</a> than those for the women’s is perhaps not only a measure of popularity but, if demographics of broadcast viewers <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2007/08/Issue-233/The-Back-Of-The-Book/TV-Tennis-Demographics-Of-US-Open-Viewers.aspx">of tennis</a> are anything to go by, it could also include potential differences in total and disposable income of the men and women buying the tickets. </p>
<p>In the UK, the <a href="http://www.equalpayportal.co.uk/statistics/">gender pay gap for the median earnings of full-time employees</a> is more than 9% and may be as high as 54% in the top level, highest-paid jobs. Ticket sales may reflect and reinforce social inequalities and stereotypes, and are a poor measure for actual performance. Gender, racial and age difference have also been noted in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/which-sports-have-the-whitest-richest-oldest-fans/283626/">TV viewership of sports events</a> – which may only serve to reinforce prejudices rather than solving them. </p>
<p>And then there is also an issue of equity and class across the field, including <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tennis-has-an-income-inequality-problem/">how money is distributed to the lower rungs of the sport</a> and discrepancies between the top tier and lower tier earnings in tennis. This also plays into issues of gender gaps and merits urgent attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jawad Syed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My number of spectators is bigger than yours – why there are more sexist issues at play in tennis than the size of your crowd.Jawad Syed, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Diversity Management, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/428442015-06-05T12:10:26Z2015-06-05T12:10:26ZToughing it out on the Paris clay – how to prepare for a French Open final<p>Andy Murray’s recent run into the French Open semi-finals has been well publicised, and there is not doubt he certainly is striking the ball as well as he ever has on the red clay following some impressive results in Munich and Madrid. </p>
<p>While there are many that have cited his <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/andymurray/11597004/Andy-Murray-can-upset-Novak-Djokovic-and-win-the-French-Open.html">recent training time in the red dirt of Barcelona</a> as a key element, there is not doubting the fitness regime that he has undertaken as part of his preparations has been a cornerstone of this recent run. </p>
<p>Even his coach, Amelie Mauresmo has <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murrays-fitness-has-paid-off-in-clay-season-preparation-10273642.html">cited</a> his continuing good health and ability to engage in consistent training as a key factor in his clay court results. Many would find it hard to disagree with this ideology, especially when you consider that clay courts have been shown the elicit higher <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21157392">heart rates, increased blood lactate</a> concentrations, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17313272">increased aerobic energy demands</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17313272">greater distances covered</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22890497">increased ratings of perceived exertion</a>. </p>
<p>We also know that the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11217009?dopt=Abstract">rallies are longer on clay</a> compared to other surfaces, and players experience more gruelling <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24668384">accelerations and decelerations</a>. These demands are also considerably increased for players who make it deep into tournaments, having been consistently meeting these demands over the seven rounds it takes to make the finals. </p>
<p>On this basis it is perhaps not surprising that Murray <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/rome-masters-2015-andy-murray-decides-match-practice-trumps-concern-over-workload-10245708.html">withdrew from the Rome Masters</a> recently in order to recover and better prepare for the physical demands of what was to come in Paris. One thing is clear: you have to be in top physical conditioning in order to cope with the demands of toughing it out in the dirt.</p>
<h2>Training for the dirt</h2>
<p>Given the demanding and relentless nature of professional tennis, it is perhaps not surprising that we hear reports that Murray has been <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-turns-to-pilates-to-ease-the-soreness-and-stiffness-8262237.html">using Pilates</a>. Whilst there is no doubt that he has reported many perceived positive effects resulting from his recent sessions, the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26004043">evidence</a> regarding its effectiveness remains equivocal. </p>
<p>Murray certainly seems to perceive Pilates as a useful part of his recovery regime between training and matches, but we have to factor in that the significant volume of resistance training and metabolic conditioning that Murray undertakes in his tournament preparations that are the foundations of his ability to run deep in tournaments in the dirt. </p>
<p>There are many reported benefits of weight training including improvements <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25059334">speed</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25734779">change-of-direction speed</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25964812">power and endurance</a>, all of which are key elements for tennis performance at the highest level. </p>
<p>It is therefore not surprising that other players who made it deep into the Paris draw such as <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2011/11/17/jo-wilfried-tsonga-i-couldve-been-a-footballer-if-it-wasnt-for-tennis-229825/">Jo-Wilfred Tsonga</a> as well as the female players such as <a href="http://www.thehealthsite.com/fitness/how-2013-us-open-champion-serena-williams-stays-fit/">Serena Williams</a>, <a href="http://www.anaivanovic.com/pressandinterviews/muscle-and-fitness-hers-interview">Anna Ivanovic</a> all take their gym training seriously.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that all these players are equipped to deal with the relentless physical demands of the Paris clay, but it remains to be seen who has the most physical strength to be crowned the king and queen of the dirt in Paris this weekend.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Meyers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pilates, strength and training: how to handle those long Paris rallies.Robert Meyers, Senior Lecturer in Strength and Conditioning, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/418712015-05-20T05:08:21Z2015-05-20T05:08:21ZFrench Open: Djokovic remains Andy Murray’s biggest psychological obstacle<p>As Andy Murray gears up for the <a href="http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/index.html">French Open</a>, he will do so with more spring in his step than for the last couple of years. Last month he won his first clay-court titles in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/32582143">Munich</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/10/andy-murray-overwhelms-rafael-nadal-to-win-madrid-open-title">Madrid</a>, and on the way defeated Rafael Nadal. Paris is on another level, however. </p>
<p>The latter event is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments on the tennis calendar, along with the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Winning more minor tournaments is one thing, but now will come questions about whether Murray can win another Grand Slam and whether he can reach the top of the ATP world rankings. </p>
<p>The answers depend in large part on the answer to another question: can Murray find a response to Novak Djokovic? The Serb is the world number one, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/32773143">most recently winning</a> the Italian Open a few days ago as Murray rested himself for Paris. He has beaten the Scot seven times out of seven since losing to him at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23217393">Wimbledon 2013</a> – notably in the final of the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/01/australian-open-final-2015-novak-djokovic-andy-murray">Australian Open</a> in January. Where once the two men seemed evenly matched, now Djokovic looks to have the upper hand. If Murray is to build on his two Grand Slam victories, breaking this cycle looks absolutely key. </p>
<h2>Making sense of Murray</h2>
<p>Despite his recent victories, there is widely held view that the main flaw in Murray’s game is a mental one. Murray <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article4341152.ece">himself highlighted</a> his mental lapses in interviews after his defeat to Djokovic in Australia in January. </p>
<p>One approach to examining mental weakness is to look at toughness. Mental toughness was introduced in the sport psychology literature by <a href="http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/interview-jim-loehr/">Jim Loehr</a> in the late 1980s. After years of academic debate about how it could be defined, a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10413200290103509?journalCode=uasp20">2002 paper</a> provided both a working definition and a list of 12 charactertics. It argued that the fundamentals of mental toughness are around deep robust confidence, resilience, an ability to filter out distractions and strong intrinsic motivation. To get a clear picture of Murray’s situation, I’m going to take each one in turn. </p>
<figure>
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<h2>1. Confidence</h2>
<p>Murray’s game has a deep flaw which every other player knows about. He has the weakest second serve of all the top male players. And Murray’s second service in the Melbourne final <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/andy-murrays-second-serve-slower-than-serena-williams-and-a-problem-20150201-133frg.html">was timed as</a> slower on average than that of Serena Williams, the women’s champion. </p>
<p>The consequences of this slow second serve are twofold. It puts a huge pressure on the first serve, which is often resolved by being risk averse: Murray knows that his first serve must go in. The second consequence is that opponents know that his second service is attackable – in Melbourne, Djokovic won 19 more points on Murray’s second serve than the other way around. </p>
<p>In sport psychology, we interpret confidence quite narrowly as the strength of the belief that a specific behaviour can be executed. It boils down to, “what is the strength of my belief that I can execute my first service at 150km/h to within a few centimetres of the optimal target?” I suspect in Murray’s case, this is reasonably high – especially in contrast to, “What is the strength of my belief that I can execute my second service at over 120km/h to within a few centimetres?” Considerably less, I suspect. </p>
<p>To compensate for the lack of threat in his service, Murray has worked on his physical conditioning. His speed and athleticism around the court is comparable to Djokovic. But unfortunately for Murray, Djokovic has another trump card: a return of service so devastating that it is seen as being <a href="http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6281">one of the best ever</a>. </p>
<p>We encourage players to focus on what they are doing rather than become preoccupied with their opponent. However Murray must be conscious that his weakness matches almost exactly Djokovic’s strength. It is difficult to believe that he walks on to court to play Djokovic with an unshakeable belief in key parts of his game. </p>
<h2>2. Motivation</h2>
<p>Andy Murray has shown very high levels of resilience to bounce back after short and long-term setbacks, and also of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the extent to which a person is motivated to achieve without the incentive of rewards. He was not content with being the best player in his own country. At an early age, Murray <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/get_involved/4237382.stm">benchmarked himself</a> against the best in the world. </p>
<p>As he became more successful, he recognised it would have been easy to establish himself among the top players in the world and carve out a comfortable living. But he has appeared unwilling to do this. He continues to work hard on his physical and technical game. </p>
<h2>3. Focus</h2>
<p>In interviews after the Australian final in January, Murray <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/31083979">spoke of</a> being distracted by Djokovic’s thigh injury during the second and third sets. Having won the second set on a tie-break, Murray went on to lose the final set 6-0. Even the most naïve spectator could see that Murray’s mind was elsewhere from the beginning of the third set. He made many unforced errors and his service was inconsistent.</p>
<p>One would need access to Murray’s mind to know exactly what he was thinking. From the visible evidence it appeared that his attention had moved away from executing his skills. My suspicion is that he was second-guessing the type and extent of Djokovic’s injury to determine whether he was fit to continue. The loss of focus for just a few points handed the momentum over to his opponent. By the time Murray regained his focus, Djokovic was away. </p>
<p>Murray knew he had been “mugged” and this led to his final set collapse. Had his focus remained on the skills, nothing his opponent was doing would have mattered. He would simply have carried on playing. </p>
<h2>Final report</h2>
<p>No assessment would be complete without mentioning that after his recent Madrid victory, Murray made headlines <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3075926/Andy-Murray-hails-marriage-works-newly-wed-demolishes-Rafael-Nadal-Madrid-Open-final-continue-winning-run.html">by writing</a> on a TV camera that “marriage works” – a reference to his wedding to Kim Sears a couple of weeks earlier. It would lovely to think that this could be making the difference, but the <a href="http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/23/8/885.full.pdf">wider evidence</a> is <a href="https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/daniel.nettle/tennis%20players.pdf">patchy</a> to say the least. It could just as easily be a pleasant coincidence. I certainly wouldn’t advise him to rely on it. </p>
<p>From my analysis, the problem for Murray and his support team is that they appear to have a blind spot – an unwillingness or inability to address the main flaws in his game, at the interface between the technique and psychology. </p>
<p>If he is to fulfil his potential as a player, starting with the French Open, his team need to systematically address and eliminate the areas of weakness in his game. These are less critical against players of lower ranking: Murray has the technique and fitness to consistently dominate, hence his position in the world’s top three. Against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic the margins are so small that the smallest flaws become accentuated. And in the specific case of Djokovic the match of strengths against weaknesses make it extremely difficult for Murray to succeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Westbury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UK number one has been in good form lately, but if he is to start winning Grand Slams again, he will have to break his Djokovic hoodoo first.Tony Westbury, Lecturer in Sport Psychology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.