The nine-time champion will face intense scrutiny after he was granted an exemption to compete in the year’s first major
Towards the end of last year, as thoughts shifted to the season ahead, and players considered their participation at Melbourne Park, Novak Djokovic gave an interview to Serbian publication Blic. He described questions about his vaccination status as “inappropriate” and he bemoaned the role of the media. He was pointedly direct: “Your editors can take what I have just said and turn it into a scandal,” he said. “I do not want to be a part of that storm.”
During the first week of the Australian tennis summer the storm arrived when Djokovic announced on social media that he had received an “exemption permission” to travel to Australia without being vaccinated.