I am special...

[SueEllen]

Well he's landed in Serbia and will be keeping his mouth shut during the Australian Open.

Apparently the French Open has strict rules around vaccination...

[d000hg]

Yeah there is the distinction between local & national laws and then any rules the ATP or the tournament itself has. One might potentially take a sporting body to court that their rules are discriminatory, we can expect to see more of that generally with workplaces requiring vaccinations and so on.

[cojak]

Sadly this arsehole will easily get visa to all other countries despite this ban (which normally would preclude most people from getting elsewhere in EU/US)

France is looking at him with some suspicion now.

[oleanderwand]

What a weekend it had been. He was perceived as danger due to how others might perceive his personal choice on vaccination, so no longer about visa, exemption etc which they accepted as valid - and he's gone. I'd be interested to know the reason for dismissal. I don't read law but it seems like it hang between being aware vs have considered. Disappointed he won't play as only Rafa from older generation remains, but I am mostly sad that Covid-19 and vaccination have made people divisive (almost) to the point if one is not vaccinated then one doesn't belong to society.

[WTFH]

Nigel Farage spends his life failing to get people deported.
And then he tries to help someone stay in a country, and they get deported.

[d000hg]

It's about Australians having endured one of the longest and strictest restrictions/lockdown periods and some rich sportsman seemingly able to swan in for a tournament without following the same rules. If you had tried to enter Australia in the same way, you would never have had a chance.

He got Covid and then went to a photoshoot knowing he had it, so it's not really surprising he was kicked out using the 'bad apple' justification. Had he behaved differently he could well have been playing today, my guess is this tipped it over the edge.

[oleanderwand]

His behaviour pointed to him being a bad apple but, I don't think the debacle was about following the same rules (rich people or otherwise). I think it was more about how they implemented the rules, messed up (mis-coordination between federal - local state - the Open) and reacted to it so they wouldn't have to own up their mess publicly. It was reported 4 people were allowed entry (and already playing for some time) before he arrived. They were tracked and ordered to leave only after his case was blown up (1 player and 1 coach publicly spoke up). Those people arguably would have been still in the country otherwise.

What I gather (if I understood it correctly) from following this case last weekend was this situation.

The court cannot judge based on the merit of the decision, but looked at whether the reasoning process to come to that decision was rational/reasonable and the bar was very low.The gov only had to show a 'might'. If the reasoning and the given evidence was his presence and perceived choice/behaviour would cause protest/anger from majority of population who had endured harsh lockdown etc, that would make complete sense to send him home in public interest. That was not the case. The reasoning for the decision was kind of like he was perceived as talisman for unvaccinated people and as such his presence could aggravate them to stage anti-vaccine protest. The evidence given to that effect was showing the other way around, that some unvaccinated people protested when his first visa was cancelled the week before. So on balance, had the decision maker considered the other side of the coin before making their decision, was it explicit consideration or simply awareness that mattered to make it a reasonable decision, etc. That was one of the things the court looked at. It seemed to hang between being aware vs have considered.

I do hope Roland-Gaross and Wimbledon would not get messy.

[SueEllen]

The judges will reveal their reasoning in due course.

And yes it is a mess.

[d000hg]

Who would have thought governments could be incompetent and make a mess of things, eh. I can't believe they deliberately let him into the country so they could scapegoat him.

Nice to see Andy win.