If the Australian Open fortnight turns out to be half as intriguing as the mystery surrounding whether Novak Djokovic will show up in Melbourne to defend his title, we are in for a treat.
With only days left to run in a saga that dates back to October, when Djokovic suggested in an interview with the Serbian news outlet Blic that he may not play in Australia following the introduction of a Covid vaccination mandate in the state of Victoria, no one is any the wiser about his plans.
That would seem to include Craig Tiley, the CEO of Tennis Australia, who has admitted that, with the final few charter flights arriving in the country by the end of the week – and only fully vaccinated players or those granted a medical exemption able to compete – “it’s getting pretty late to show up and play the Australian Open”.
The facts surrounding Djokovic’s stance on the situation are few and familiar.
He has repeatedly declined to reveal his inoculation status, but said in April 2020, in a Facebook chat with other Serbian athletes, that he was “opposed to vaccination” and “wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel”.
“If it becomes compulsory, what will happen?” he mused. “I will have to make a decision. I have my own thoughts about the matter and whether those thoughts will change at some point, I don’t know.”
In a departure from his routine of the past two years, Djokovic did not travel to Sydney for the ATP Cup, withdrawing at the last minute without explanation. He instead began his preparations for the new season at his eponymous tennis centre in Belgrade before travelling to Marbella, where he owns a lavish nine-bedroom villa with a private tennis court. Djokovic has been practising, however, at the Soto Tennis Academy in Sotogrande, a 45-minute drive away, on acrylic courts similar to the ones used at the Australian Open, and with the official Dunlop tournament balls.
All of which raises more questions than it answers.
Has Djokovic been vaccinated? If so, why did he not represent Serbia in the ATP Cup? And why do doubts persist over his appearance at a tournament where he has been virtually unbeatable over the past decade – particularly given that a 10th title would see him surpass Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with whom he is currently level on 20 majors, as arguably the most successful male player in history?
If Djokovic has not been inoculated, why does he appear to be doing everything possible to ensure his training sessions in Marbella replicate the conditions he could face in Melbourne? Are we to infer that he has applied for a medical exemption?
As Tiley has pointed out, we will never know the answer to the last question unless Djokovic volunteers the information himself. “It’s his choice to keep personal and private [details of his medical status], like all of us would do with any condition we may or may not have. We are not going to force him or ask him to disclose that.”
Nor would Djokovic, who has made plain his distaste for press speculation, appreciate conjecture around the issue. “There is too much speculation,” the world No 1 told Blic in the interview that started the whole will-he-won’t-he hoo-ha. “The media is speculating a lot, and that bothered me a lot. I didn’t advertise too much because everyone made some assumptions based on what I said a year ago.”
Equally, Djokovic is a vastly experienced player who knows how the media works. The 34-year-old will have been fully aware of the furore that would ensue when he raised the possibility of missing the Australian Open. Yet he did it anyway, casting himself in the role of the person who comes bounding up to tell you they have a big secret, before adding in the same breath that they couldn’t possibly tell you what it is. To take aim at speculation in such circumstances seems disingenuous. Why say anything in the first place? Was it a warning shot across the bows, a way of signalling to the tournament organisers that he would not succumb to what his father, Srdjan, subsequently characterised as “blackmails and conditions”? If so, it has met with questionable success, given that Djokovic’s rivals are busy acclimatising to the unique demands of the Australian summer while he conducts an elaborate simulation from afar.
There is a growing feeling that Djokovic may have pushed his brinkmanship too far. As former Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis put it: “We’ve reached the point where his preparation for the tournament is surely being compromised. Most players like to arrive in Australia two, even three weeks before the Open to acclimatise to the Melbourne summer and court conditions, and really nail their preparation. We’re well inside that timeline now.”
A report in the Serbian media this week suggested that Djokovic is pinning his hopes on a medical exemption. “Considering that the Australians have changed the rules and conditions of participation in the Australian Open several times, it is not surprising that Novak hopes to play in Melbourne,” an unnamed source told the Belgrade-based Informer.
“First, they said that unvaccinated people can play, but they will have to be quarantined, unlike vaccinated people. Then they announced that they would not be able to do anything, and then they introduced the possibility of medical exemption overnight and formed a commission that decides whether to allow an unvaccinated player to perform. Novak has been rejected so far.”
The same source claimed that Djokovic did not play in the ATP Cup because he did not want to risk travelling in mid-December and spending time in quarantine only to be denied a place in the Australian Open draw. Uninoculated travellers arriving in the Australian state of New South Wales are required to complete a 14-day period in isolation, meaning that any unvaccinated player intending to compete at the ATP Cup would have needed to arrive in Sydney by 16 December.
It is not hard to imagine that Djokovic did not relish the prospect of undergoing quarantine. In his interview with Blic, he spoke with feeling of how “everyone has a bad memory” of last year, when more than 70 players were confined to their hotel rooms for two weeks.
Yet many will take a dim view of any suggestion that the initial uncertainty surrounding the conditions of entry to the Australian Open creates a precedent for a late change of heart by the organisers. Rules are rules, however rough hewn, and there will be those for whom the memory of Djokovic appealing in vain against tournament regulations following his disqualification from the 2020 US Open for accidentally hitting a ball at a line judge – “You’re going to choose a default in this situation? My career, grand slam, centre stage? You have a game penalty, set penalty, many options” – remains all too fresh in the memory.
Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no doubt that Djokovic would be much missed at Melbourne Park. He has graced Rod Laver Arena over the years with his technical brilliance, ferocious, shirt-ripping intensity and superhuman endurance. An Australian Open without him would not be the same. Then again, much the same was said before last year’s US Open, when Nadal, Federer and Serena Williams were all absent. Flushing Meadows delivered one of the most exciting fortnights of tennis in recent memory regardless. Moral of the story: the show will go on. With or without the defending champion.