Lawyer Explains Why He Thinks Novak Djokovic Will Win His Appeal Case Against Australia
The world number one tennis star will be in court today arguing why he deserves to play in the Australian Open.
A lawyer has opened up why he thinks Novak Djokovic will win his appeal case against the Australian government.
The Serbian world number one tennis player appealed Australian Border Force's decision last week to cancel his visa.
While he says he received a medical exemption to travel Down Under to play in the Australian Open, his visa was cancelled after he touched down in Melbourne.
The case was due to be heard in court last Friday (January 7), however it's since been pushed to today (January 10).
Lawyer Peter Quill says the delay in the hearing doesn't look good for Australian authorities.
Speaking on The Project, the partner at Thomson Geer Lawyers said: "That tells me two things. They realise there's more in this than they first thought and they've got a real fight on their hands, and they're scrambling and they're on the back foot.
"Novak Djokovic, if he wins this case, he'll seek his costs.
"If they win [today], $250,000 to the government lawyers, probably a couple of hundred thousand to Novak to pay his legal fees. We're getting close to half a million and that's just if there's no appeal."
Peter added that Djokovic having his visa cancelled at the 11th hour is also not a good look.
"He had no sleep, he was 25 hours in transit, he wasn't give access, so he says, at least, wasn't given access to a lawyer," the lawyer told the Channel 10 programme.
"The actual decision, what they relied on and took into account, and didn't take into account, are also the grounds that Djokovic is arguing makes this deportation order invalid."
Djokovic was assured by Tennis Australia and the Victorian state government that he was cleared to travel to Australia to play in the Grand Slam.
The Daily Mail also reports the Department of Home Affairs indicated he was also free to come, however that was only based on an arrivals assessment form, which is a computer-generated system that sees if someone ticks certain boxes.
Novak's team will be arguing in court today that he was given information before his arrival that he wouldn't have to quarantine for two weeks and would be free to play in the Australian Open despite not having a coronavirus vaccine.
Lawyers for the Australian government will highlight how that information was outdated, that they were right to cancel his visa, and they should have that decision upheld.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Novak Djokovic, Australia
Stewart Perrie