The Great Ball of Australian Tennis opened on Monday January 17, without its king. Novak Djokovic, world number one and nine-time winner of the Australian Open, was expelled the day before from Australian territory after a long legal battle over his vaccination status. As he sought a tenth title in Melbourne and a 21and Grand Slam, the Serb flew to Dubai before joining Belgrade, his hometown.
A few hours later, tennis life and play resumed their rights. “The only good news is that we will be able to talk about tennis”, had anticipated, Sunday, Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of the American Serena Williams, on his Twitter account, summarizing a fairly general opinion.
The big loser of this mess is the tournament. The only good news is that we will hopefully start talking about tennis.
In the fervor of Melbourne Park – deprived, however, of part of its public, the reception gauge being limited to 50% – this first day held a few surprises, as often during the first rounds of Grand Slams. American Sebastian Korda, 43and world player, thus inflicted a stinging defeat (6-3, 6-0, 6-4) on the seeded number 12 of the tournament, the Briton Cameron Norrie.
The contenders for the final victory did not stumble. The Australian Ashleigh Barty, world number one, was quick to reach the second round in 54 minutes of play by disposing of the qualifier for the main draw, the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (6-0, 6-1). After several months of absence from the circuit, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal and the Japanese Naomi Osaka also passed without incident this first meeting, while this first round was a little more hung for the German Alexander Zverev (2:38 to beat his compatriot Daniel Altmaier in three sets).
“Mess”, “disaster” according to Nadal
However, it is difficult to completely ignore the very particular context of this start of the competition and these eleven days during which the Australian Open was at the heart of the turmoil. Whether they like it or not, the participants of the tournament were brought back to this absence of Novak Djokovic and asked about the consequences of this expulsion.
Easy winner of the American Marcos Giron (6-1, 6-4, 6-2), Rafael Nadal said to himself “tired by this question”. “It is obvious that this is not the best situation for the sport, the ideal being that the best participate in the big events. If Novak was there, it would be better for everyone,” said the Spaniard in a post-match press conference, calling the situation a “mess and disaster”.
While emphasizing that the Serbian player is not “not the only one who did things that were probably bad in this case”, Rafael Nadal added that, for his part, he ” born [sera] never against what justice says.
Serbian players in support
The most offensive to comment on the situation will have been – unsurprisingly – the Serbian tennis players involved in the main draw. Miomir Kecmanovic, who was to face Novak Djokovic in the first round, said on his Instagram account that he wanted “do everything to avenge and make proud” their “strongest representative”. After his victory over the Italian Salvatore Carruso (6-4, 6-2, 6-1), the 22-year-old added that he “Had to win for Djokovic”.
Laslo Djere, meanwhile, pointed to the handling of the case by the Australian government. “I think not only the Serbs but also the whole world saw what happened and will have a different opinion about Australia,” he said after his elimination on this first day of the Australian Major, while Dusan Lajovic believed that his compatriot, world number one, had been “terribly badly treated” and that he was ” very strong “ by the players of the men’s draw.
Officially, however, there were very few reactions of support, apart from those, on Sunday, of personalities like the Canadian Vasek Pospisil – co-founder, with Novak Djokovic, of the PTPA, a players’ union -, the Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet or the Briton Andy Murray and Australian Nick Kyrgios. On Monday, it was Adrian Mannarino who considered that “It’s not Djokovic’s fault”. “We gave him the opportunity to come, so he came. If his exemption has been validated, he shows up here, he should be able to play”, added the Frenchman.
In a column for the sports daily The Team, the Swede Mats Wilander invited Novak Djokovic to “review your position”. “If you want to live in the world and become the greatest player in history, you have to agree with what the majority and democracy have decided, advanced the ex-world number one. It is important that he continues to earn and maintain the role of model that he holds with many people. Novak is a citizen of the world. A status that automatically generates responsibilities. »
Lacoste wants to “take stock” with Djokovic
The Lacoste group, clothing sponsor of Novak Djokovic since 2017, declared on Monday January 17 in a press release that it would “as soon as possible get in touch with Novak Djokovic to take stock of the events that accompanied his presence in Australia”. Without providing further details. “The Australian authorities have canceled Novak Djokovic’s visa. As a result, it will not be possible for him to participate in the Australian Open”, just recalled the crocodile brand.