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Djokovic addresses visa furore with Serbian president

<p dir="ltr">Two weeks after he was forced to leave the country, Novak Djokovic has shared his story with the public for the first time.</p><p dir="ltr">The tennis champion met with Serbia’s President Aleksander Vučić at a press conference on Thursday night, describing the “unfortunate events in Australia” which “was at least unexpected, as it happened”, he said, smiling.</p><p dir="ltr">Since his deportation, Djokovic has been spending his time in Belgrade and Montenegro.</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3c5348da-7fff-dd8d-28a0-bebbe56c610c"></span></p><p dir="ltr">“This is the first time I go public,” he <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-promises-to-give-his-version-of-events-after-australia-drama/news-story/bd983956812f4f750788974b2b532ca9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Feb 3, 2022 Presidental Palace, Belgrade 🇷🇸<br /><br />Novak Djokovic: "President, I would like to thank you and the state of Serbia both for support during the unfortunate events in Australia and for standing by my side." <a href="https://twitter.com/pavyg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pavyg</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TennisPuneet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TennisPuneet</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NovakFanClub?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NovakFanClub</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigKellyMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CraigKellyMP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DMDent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DMDent</a><br />1/2 <a href="https://t.co/tk0ocNeFzF">pic.twitter.com/tk0ocNeFzF</a></p>— Zvezda je život (@FkczBelgrade) <a href="https://twitter.com/FkczBelgrade/status/1489177087898714113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">He thanked the President for his support, as well as the Serbian people after “these circumstances that found me in Australia”.</p><p dir="ltr">Djokovic said their support has shown “that this connection will be like that forever”.</p><p dir="ltr">Though he has promised to share his story “in more detail”, he did share part of it was President Vučić.</p><p dir="ltr">“I wanted to see you first of all because as a citizen of Serbia I felt a great need to thank you for the great support you gave me as President of Serbia,” he said.</p><p dir="ltr">“Although I was alone in detention in Australia and faced many problems and challenges, I did not feel lonely.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-395ae6cf-7fff-0e7e-13fb-55b76bcb51db"></span></p><p dir="ltr">“You stood up and stood behind me and put yourself in a compromised political position, within the framework of international relations, and that is why I am extremely grateful. I will remember that.”</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/djokovic-vucic.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">Djokovic appeared alongside the President of Serbia to share his side of the story. Image: Andrej Isakovic/</em><em style="margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;color: #323338;font-family: Roboto, Arial;background-color: #ffffff">AFP via Getty Images</em></p><p dir="ltr">President Vučić praised Djokovid for “glorifying our country”, though he admitted he initially urged the tennis star to leave the country when he first received the news of his detention.</p><p dir="ltr">“And then I saw how persistent he is, how much he wanted to play, to fight on the sports field, to show on the sports field how much he is ready to fight not only for himself, but his country and show that he is better than others,” Vučić explained.</p><p dir="ltr">Djokovic’s arrival in Australia sparked intense backlash after it emerged that he was eligible for a medical exemption to enter the country while unvaccinated and was then detained upon arrival in Melbourne.</p><p dir="ltr">After spending time in hotel detention - prompting protests for his freedom - Djokovic was finally deported after the Federal Court upheld Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel his visa.</p><p dir="ltr">“For media representatives, I would like to add that since I did not advertise in public about the Australian events, this is the first time I go public,” he said on Thursday night.</p><p dir="ltr">He urged people to “please be patient”, and that he would address the situation “in more detail with my version of the story to everything that happened in Australia” within the next seven to ten days.</p><p dir="ltr">President Vučić had nothing but praise for Djokovic, telling the media that “someone special and bigger than all of us is here today”.</p><p dir="ltr">“Thank you for representing our country with honour, courage and in the best way, and for doing so in the future. Thank you for the great fight you fought in Australia,” Vučić said.</p><p dir="ltr">A statement from the President’s office said “that the ladies were specially groomed, and all this shows that someone special and much bigger came”.</p><p dir="ltr">“It had never happened that we have so many people in the building, that all the secretaries, all bookkeepers, all cooks, janitors, came because they wanted to see Novak,” the statement read.</p><p dir="ltr">“He will beat them all, at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. I predict that.”</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c3816aad-7fff-361a-6b01-bb2190cc7832"></span></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images</em></p>

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Serbia's reaction to Djokovic deportation

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anger has grown in Serbia after Novak Djokovic’s visa was cancelled for a second time, with the country’s President claiming the Australian government has “humiliated” itself.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Djokovic’s legal bid to overturn the cancellation of his visa once again was shot down on Sunday, after three federal judges upheld the decision on public order grounds.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The World No.1 was </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://oversixty.co.nz/news/news/djokovic-escorted-out-of-australia" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ordered to leave the country</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, departing from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport late on Sunday night with a retinue of aids and officials. The Emirates flight EK409 to Dubai took off at 10.51pm local time, according to an AFP reporter on board.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Srdjan Djokovic, the tennis champion’s father, took to Instagram with claims Djokovic was subject to an “assassination attempt”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The assassination attempt on the best sportsman in the world is over, 50 bullets to Novak’s chest. See you in Paris,” he wrote.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile in Belgrade, Serbia 😍 Home country is waiting for its hero.<br /><br />Source: Srdjan Djokovic, IG <a href="https://twitter.com/NovakFanClub?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NovakFanClub</a> <a href="https://t.co/snC0ebfBPq">pic.twitter.com/snC0ebfBPq</a></p> — Yerik_nolefamkz 🇰🇿 (@yerikilyassov) <a href="https://twitter.com/yerikilyassov/status/1482802376549576708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Serbian President Aleksander Vučić also shared his criticism over Djokovic’s treatment, saying the latest hearing was “a farce with a lot of lies”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They think that they humiliated Djokovic with this 10-day harassment, and they actually humiliated themselves,” he told reporters on Sunday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Djokovic can return to his country with his head held high.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If you said that the one who was not vaccinated has no right to enter, Novak would not come or would be vaccinated.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Djokovic was granted a “medical exemption” by organisers of the Australian Open based on his positive PCR test results from December.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, organisers had previously been warned that infection with COVID-19 would be insufficient proof for a player to be unvaccinated and allowed in the country, prompting Djokovic’s visa to be cancelled the morning after he arrived in Melbourne on January 5.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The decision saw Djokovic stay at a hotel housing immigrants in detention for several days, before his visa was returned to him following a successful appeal at the Federal Circuit Court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite his legal victory, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his personal powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa for a second time, prompting the tennis star to appeal the decision again in federal court.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">I welcome today’s unanimous decision by the Full Federal Court of Australia, upholding my decision to exercise my power under the Migration Act to cancel Mr Novak Djokovic’s visa in the public interest. <br /><br />I can confirm that Mr Djokovic has now departed Australia. <a href="https://t.co/8CapwFeDCS">pic.twitter.com/8CapwFeDCS</a></p> — Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexHawkeMP/status/1482683424720945152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Vučić reportedly told the BBC that the relationship between Australia and Serbia would need work in order to improve, insisting that the saga was about “truth and justice, not just Djokovic”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You were saying medical exemptions and medical exemptions and he came there with a medical exemption proposal and then you were mistreating him for 10 days,” he told the BBC.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Why did you do it? And then doing that witches’ hunt campaign against him, that is something that no one can understand.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić also weighed in, describing the decision as “scandalous”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I am disappointed and I think it has shown how the rule of law functions in some other countries, i.e. how it doesn’t function,” she told Belgrade’s Beta News Agency, according to a CNN translation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-deportation-sparks-outrage-around-the-world-as-his-father-slams-assassination-attempt/news-story/edcb04ad8f9b86ef4e1772b7ee052606" target="_blank">In a statement</a> posted online, the Serbian Olympic Committee said they believed “Novak came out as the winner again” despite his deportation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We are proud of Novak Djokovic and the way he coped with these extremely difficult and unpleasant circumstances. Despite this scandalous decision, we believe Novak came out as the winner again,” they said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Djokovic’s family also spoke out, sharing their disappointment in a statement published by local media.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We are very disappointed by a federal court ruling and the fact that Novak has to leave Australia,” the family said in the statement.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These are difficult moments, notably for Novak, but what we all have to do - namely us, his family - is to give him support more than ever.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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“I stand by Novak”: Serbia weighs in on Djokovic fiasco

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Australia has been accused of a “political witch hunt” and deliberately attempting to humiliate Novak Djokovic, as international upset grows over his cancelled visa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After arriving in Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport on Wednesday with a medical exemption granted by Australian Open organisers, he was quickly detained by Border Force officials for failing to “provide appropriate evidence” of double vaccination or a medical exemption.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The tennis star has been placed in a Melbourne detention facility and is expected to stay there over the weekend until his Federal Court hearing on Monday, when he will appeal <a rel="noopener" href="https://oversixty.co.nz/news/news/novak-djokovic-told-to-leave-australia" target="_blank">the last-minute visa cancellation</a>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Serbian president Aleksander Vu<span>čić</span> has claimed the World No. 1 was being hounded as other players have been allowed to enter the country with medical exemptions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“What is not fair-play is the political witch hunt (being conducted against Novak), by everybody including the Australian Prime Minister pretending that the rules apply to all,” Vu<span>čić</span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/you-are-not-human-djokovics-family-lash-out-at-scott-morrison/news-story/e5913f7c58d30d4b7cdef1185a0d7a49" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the media.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The president said Serbian authorities had contacted Australian ambassadors twice, and that Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic would be in touch with a senior member of Australia’s Department of Home Affairs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Serbians will ask that Djokovic, at the very least, should stay in the house he had rented for the Australian Open while his appeal is heard, rather than in the hotel he has been sent to.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I fear that this relentless political pursuit of Novak will continue until the moment they can prove something, because when you cannot defeat somebody then you turn to these types of things,” Vu<span>čić</span> said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When asked whether she agreed with the President, Ms Brnabic said Djokovic was receiving different treatment to other players and “that is what makes us think it’s political”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We will try to do our best to make sure Novak is treated equally and gets all the rights he’s entitled to. That is the only thing I can say,” she told </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Sky News</em> UK</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in an interview.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“And Serbia stands by Novak. I stand by Novak. All of our people stand by Novak and his family in these difficult times.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, said Australia should be ashamed of its treatment of his son and called for the “whole free world together with Serbia” to rise up.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Novak and his team filed the same type of documents, as those 25 other tennis players (with exemptions) and it didn’t have any problems, just Novak,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They wanted to humiliate him. They could have said don’t come Novak, and that would have been okay.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“But no, they wanted to humiliate him, and they’re still keeping him in prison. He’s not in detention. He’s in prison.”</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Mr Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled. Rules are rules, especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above these rules. Our strong border policies have been critical to Australia having one of the lowest death rates in the world from COVID, we are continuing to be vigilant.</p> — Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1478848008363991049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2022</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the medical exemptions of the other Australian Open entrants are being investigated, reiterating that Djokovic’s evidence for his medical exemption from COVID-19 vaccination was the issue, not his visa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It was the entry requirements,” she </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/novak-djokovic-australia-visa-court-case-before-australian-open-serbian-president-aleksandar-vucic-slams-saga-as-political-witch-hunt/5fce9065-6493-43a5-8595-cd82a2d2f8ae"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on Friday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It was actually the evidence of vaccination that every single person who comes into Australia has to prove that they have been vaccinated or prove that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite these claims, demonstrations have been held in the Serbian capital of Belgrade protesting Djokovic’s detainment. Several hundred people, led by Djokovic’s father Srdjan, gathered in front of Serbia’s parliament with flags and homemade signs.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846666/djokovic2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/4ea832b1267445ed86776186f9c7dde9" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Protestors gathered outside Serbia's parliament in Belgrade, carrying signs, flags, and images of Djokovic. The sign pictured reads: "Freedom for Tennis No. 1 Novak". Image: Getty Images</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We are not calling for violence … only for support (for Novak)”, Srdjan shouted into a megaphone.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They’re keeping him in captivity. They’re stomping all over Novak to stomp all over Serbia and Serbian people,” Srdjan added.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Morrison and his like have dared attack Novak to bring Serbia to its knees. Serbia has always shown that he comes from a proud nation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This has nothing to do with sports, this is a political agenda. Novak is the best player and the best athlete in the world, but several hundred million people from the West can’t stomach that.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You, famous Prime Minister of the faraway naturally beautiful country, are behaving according to your own principles, which have nothing to do with us and our principles.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We are humans, and you, sir, are not.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Jesus was crucified on the cross … but he is still alive among us. They are trying to crucify and belittle Novak and throw him to his knees.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elsewhere in Serbia, reactions to the situation were more mixed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They do not let in their country people from other continents who have mud on their shoes let alone someone who is not vaccinated against a contagious disease,” Mihailo Kljajic, a 29-year-old flight attendant, told AFP.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I don’t know what he expected would happen.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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Man living in cave for 20 years gets COVID jab

<p>A<span style="font-weight: 400;"> man who has been living in a cave for the last 20 years has just received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and is calling on others to do the same.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After donating all the money he made to fund the construction of three bridges in the town, Panta Petrovic moved to a cave in the Serbian mountains 20 years ago to avoid society.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since then, he has been living off of mushrooms and fish from the local creek and occasionally visiting the nearby town of Pirot in search of leftover food.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was on one of his trips to the town last year when he discovered that COVID-19 has spread all over the world.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After COVID-19 vaccines became available, he was quick to get the jab and is urging others to do so too.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“[The virus] does not pick. It will come here, to my cave, too,” Petrovic told AFP from his cave on the Stara Planina mountain in southern Serbia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I want to get all three doses, including the extra one … I urge every citizen to get vaccinated, every single one of them.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The 70-year-old has few belongings with him, including a hay bed, an old bathtub  which he uses as a toilet, some benches, and some animals he keeps.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, after wolves began killing the animals, Petrovic decided to move them to a shack he had assembled in the outskirts of town to keep them safe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The gang of animals includes several goats, a flock of chickens, about 30 cats and dogs, and an adult boar named Mara.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“[Mara] means everything to me, I love her and she listens to me. There is no money that can buy such a thing. A true pet,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Petrovic looks after himself and his animals with welfare and donations of food and supplies for his menagerie.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Images: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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