MELBOURNE, Australia – Novak Djokovic intends to play in the Australian Open in 2023, tournament director Craig Tilly assured on Sunday, believing that the fiasco that led to the elimination of the No. 1 in the world this year was due to “bad communication”.

Interview by the Australian Public Channel alphabet Regarding whether the No. 1 in the world, without being vaccinated against COVID, intended to return next year to play the tournament despite this year’s events, Mr. Tiley replied: “yes (…) this will be the his intention “.

“At the end of the day, he’s the No. 1 in the world and he really likes the Australian Open,” Tiley added.

The Prime Minister of the state of Victoria, whose capital is Melbourne, however, insisted that Djokovic could only play if he was vaccinated.

“Rafa (Nadal) is right. We could have avoided all this if he had just been vaccinated. “This person feels he is more important than the tournament, but he is not,” Daniel Andrews told reporters.

Djokovic has beaten the Australian Major nine times (record) and was aiming for his 10th title this year, which would allow him to raise to 21 the current Grand Slam title he holds with Rafael Nadal (who played in the 8th final on Sunday). and Roger Federer (absent).

For Tiley, it was “ever-changing circumstances” and “poor communication” with the federal government that led to Djokovic’s dismissal the day before the start of the tournament, when he initially received a resignation signed by the Australian Federation chief physician. (TA) in order to enter Australia unvaccinated.

Mr Tiley, who is also president of TA, said his body had worked with national authorities, but that due to the evolving nature of the Omicron variant, “there was a lot of contradiction and complexity in the information received.

“Even last week (since the court ruling on Djokovic’s dismissal), things have changed in terms of the measures taken to deal with the pandemic,” he said.

To make that exception, the Serb claimed to have contracted the coronavirus six months before arriving in Australia. However, after ten days of legal proceedings and a few days in detention, Djokovic was expelled.

Is the Australian Federation expecting a lawsuit from the player to reimburse his legal and travel expenses? “No,” replied Mr. Tiley.