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Serbs stand by their man

The entire world will take a different view of Australia as a result of the ‘‘catastrophic’’ Novak Djokovic visa fiasco, according to fellow Serbian tennis star Laslo Djere.

The messy 11-day saga came to a head when Djokovic was deported late on Sunday night, after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel the unvaccinated world No.1’s visa was upheld in the Federal Court.

Instead of preparing for an Australian Open first-round match against compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic on Rod Laver Arena, nine-times champion Djokovic flew to Belgrade via Dubai.

It came amid protests from Serbia that the 34-year-old had been dealt with appallingly — the calls led by president Aleksandar Vukic and prime minister Ana Brnabic, who labelled Djokovic’s treatment ‘‘scandalous’’.

Fellow players Djere and Dusan Lajovic added their voices of support for Djokovic after their respective first-round matches at Melbourne Park on Monday.

‘‘Not just Serbians, I think the whole world saw it and they probably will have a new or different opinion about Australia,’’ Djere said, after losing to 14th seed Denis Shapovalov. ‘‘I mean, the guy had the exemption and they still deported him.

‘‘I don’t know the details, so I also don’t want to be too harsh. But what everyone could read, yeah, he’s not vaccinated, but we were told that we can enter the country with an exemption, which he had, and yet he’s not here with us.

‘‘Something went horribly wrong. Yeah, it was a true catastrophic situation.’’ Djokovic’s deportation ended his Australian Open title defence before it began and left his bid for a record 21st major in tatters.

Lajovic outlasted Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 to advance to the second round,

but had Djokovic on his mind postmatch. ‘‘The way they treated him was terribly wrong,’’ Lajovic said.

‘‘The decision itself was terribly wrong, and also the reason why they did it is also for me terribly wrong because based just an idea, I don’t think it’s the right way.

‘‘I hope that in the future he will be the best tennis player in history and that this will be only looked at as a setback on his path to be the best tennis player to ever play the sport.’’

Djere expects his compatriot to respond strongly to the adversity.

‘‘That’s what he does. That’s also in our Serbian mentality,’’ Djere said.

‘‘When we get beat down or we are treated a bad way or how we maybe don’t deserve, we just try to — especially him — be inspired by that and gain strength from that.’’

Djere said he would return to Australia but felt it would feel ‘‘a little different’’ in future.

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2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282269553764922

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