2022 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Ah I don't know about that, still 3 other slams to play for during the year and hopefully by the time the US Open comes around the dreaded Covid pass will have been binned by then.

Shure what else would you do on Christmas Eve?

You'd be hard pressed to find a withered oak branch this time of year in Australia, have to make do with candles.

looks like other players now being investigated who are already in Melbourne. Looks like more players could be sent home because of the exemptions. This could get very messy now. I think the organisers have made a balls of this.

Djokovic and these other players, like them or not have done little wrong here. Do I believe they should all get vaccinated, absolutely I think they should. However the rules were you are double vaccinated or you need an exemption. Whatever their reason Djokovic and other players applied for an exemption and got one. Had they just been told no, you need to be vaccinated they would have stayed at home.

A lot of this has to fall on the Australian side. Clearly there is disagreement between different levels of government on what the exemptions should be, that is not the fault of the players in my opinion. Like him or loathe him (and whoever else got an exemption) did what was asked of them and now the Australian authorities are clearly the ones now are questioning why the exemptions were given.

As for the tournament itself, this could mean a number of players missing including the best player in the world and arguably (and in my opinion) the greatest player of all time. whatever your opinion of the guy, you do want the best players in the tournament but obviously that aint gonna happen.

I've no love for Djokovic (or his stance on vaccines) but he's been shafted here. I think the longer he sits in detention the more public sentiment will turn against the Australian authorities farcical handling of this, I would not be at all surprised to see him play the tournament now. Unless he lied about his reasons for a medical exemption that is.

The last sentence there is key, its why I asked about the appeal hearing being public or not. if it is found that he really did have a verifiable (beyond reasonable doubt) case of covid in the last whenever, he should expect to be able to enter the country. if he pulled a dodgy doctors cert out the hat at the last minute to get an exemption, his reputation is ruined.

His wrongheaded and hubristic stance on vaccines is very unfortunate, to put in mildly. Becker wrote an article today in the Daily Mail in which he pointed out the obvious that Djokovic's opposition to vaccines will hinder his push to be considered the best of of all time and that while its a stance he may well regret in 20 years time, he is single-minded enough to dog it out and not get vaccinated. Inat, anyone?

When did Tennis Australia announce that Covid in the last 6 months would get you in to the 2022 Australia Open?

I don't remember any reports last year of Djokovic missing for 10 days isolating due to Covid. I don't subscribe to the bribery theories, but I'd be interested in when he had Covid and what official verification he has. I suppose the safest way for him to go about engineering this, is to purposely contract Covid. To the rest of us, this might seem a bit nuts when the alternative option is to take a vaccine, but as we all agree, his head wiring is different to most of the rest of us.

The next option would be to submit someone else's swab/blood who has recently had Covid for testing in his stead. Maybe a family member/close friend who he can trust to keep quiet. Little risk of the sample being kept/retrieved for investigation later.

The third option would be to get a doctor to certify, but the doctor will still need to organise a fake test to have the results. Bribery in the Serbian medical system is much more common than in Ireland, but I doubt if Djokovic would rely on a bribe. It would have to be a trusted doctor. It might also explain his reluctance to divulge any information to the press about his exemption, because to do so might bring unwanted attention on a friend doing him a favour.

Of course he might genuinely have had a 2nd bout of Covid, but you would then expect things like Stefan telling his friends that tata has Covid again and I can't come to your apartment to play.

I see another player been sent packing, she had already played in a warm up tournament, interesting comment saying being detained same place as Djokovic with several other players

https://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2022/0107/1272372-czech-player-detained-as-australian-visa-cancelled/

Thiem isn't playing and would have no hope of winning on recent form anyway.