Visit from the trainer on the first changeover of Bernard Tomic's match. He's taking his pulse before serving down break point. #AusOpen
^Tomic was taking his own pulse before serving, to be clear. He got broken.
Tomic was hyping up his return to #AusOpen competition quite a bit on social media, but this is rough going for him against in-form Roman Safiullin.
Not sure if Tomic is blaming his physical difficulties on potential Covid, but he just complained to the umpire during the changeover that #AusOpen is relying on rapid antigen tests rather than PCR tests.
Tomic trails Safiullin 1-6, 1-2.
Doesn’t sound like a person who should be playing at the #AusOpen, folks!
Understandablt, the doctor was quick to tell Tomic to put his mask on correctly during that visit in the first changeover.
In Instagram statement, Novak Djokovic says that he found out his positive PCR test after he went to the children’s award event but *before* he did a photoshoot and interview with L’Equipe.
Djokovic also added a bit on his Australian Travel Declaration misstatement, calling it a “human error and certainly not deliberate.”
L’Equipe has published an article on its interactions with Djokovic in Belgrade in December, when, according to Djokovic, he knew he was positive for coronavirus but they did not.
The article is in French and paywalled, but I will share some below:
The Djokovic deportation appeal hearing is underway. I've gotten an (audio) pipeline in, but technical issues persist. Will do my best to keep folks up to date.
Opening arguments now from Djokovic's lawyer, who is focusing on fairness.
The Djokovic deportation appeal hearing stream is now working for me; good luck to the rest of you.
In addition to purportedly getting a PCR test for Covid that came back positive, Djokovic also was part of a maskless, indoor panel discussion and attended a maskless, indoor ceremony for a stamp being made in his honor on that day.
A positive test on December 16 would have come too late for the Tennis Australia exemption process deadline as described to players.
According to Tennis Australia documents, the deadline for applying for an exemption had been nearly a week earlier, “no later than” December 10.
Had to check out the scene myself at the Park Hotel where Djokovic is being detained and where his supporters have gathered to protest his impending deportation for being unvaccinated. #AusOpen
Crucially, the Park Hotel has also been used to detain refugees seeking asylum, some of whom have been imprisoned there for years.
This woman was understandably furious with the smattering of media there for only caring about detainees at the Park Hotel when one of them happens to be a tennis champion. #AusOpen
People find that satisfying? A super-talented young player emerges and plays 2.5 hours of jaw-dropping, world-beating tennis…and then enough time passes for regression to the mean and normal programming resumes, and it’s deflating. Djokovic earns the win, sure, but yawn.
Part of the appeal of sports, I truly believe, is that anything can happen. The any given Sunday principle that sees things like Mickelson winning in his 50s.
In men’s tennis at Slams, the margins are just too big to ever derail the top guys, and it’s cruise control to a fault.
Thankfully for tennis, the ATP and ITF have seen the light here, retiring the obsolete best-of-five format at Olympics, ATP finals, Masters finals, and Davis Cup.
When the best deal Grand Slam tennis can get is Peacock, it’s time for the Slams to see the writing on the wall too.