The Illegitimacy of the 2022 Australian Open

With Novak Djokovic being barred from playing in this year's Australian Open by Australian politicians, this year's edition of the first grand slam tournament must be considered illegitimate. Without the No. 1 tennis player in the world and the three-time defending champion being allowed to compete, this year's Australian Open might be a great tennis event, but it cannot legitimately be called a grand slam tournament.

While every year, there are players that are unable to compete in grand slams, and this doesn't put in doubt the legitimacy of those tournaments, this situation is clearly different. Djokovic is healthy, his ranking is high enough to earn direct entrance into the main draw, he was legitimately entered into the draw, and he was announced as the top seed of the tournament. He even spent four days at the tournament practicing for his first-round match before getting deported.

In the 2000s, the MLB had to ban some of its best players from playing the game because they tested positive for illegal substances. At other tennis tournaments, players have been disqualified because they tested positive for COVID-19. In the first instance, players were banned for cheating and in the second instance players were removed from the tournament for being a threat to the health of the tournament. Neither of these scenarios apply to Djokovic. He has not put any illegal substance into his body, and the Australian government declared that he posed an insignificant health risk to the community since he tested negative for COVID-19 after having recently contracted the disease.

It is also necessary to dispel with the idea that Djokovic is not allowed to play the tournament because he didn't follow the rules to get vaccinated. This is false and the Australian government has admitted as much. He had a legitimate exemption from being vaccinated that was given to him by the Victorian government.

So why was he deported like a terrorist instead of being allowed to play tennis? I'm content to let the Australian government speak for itself on this point. Here is what it said: "An iconic world tennis star may influence people of all ages, young or old, but perhaps especially the young and impressionable to emulate him."

That is what the chief justice who upheld the decision to deport Djokovic said in his official explanation. The Australian government claimed that Djokovic was perceived to be "anti-vaccine" and was therefore a bad example. They admitted that they had no evidence that he was anti-vaccine, but they cited recent demonstrations as evidence that he was perceived to be anti-vaccine and therefore a bad example. Those protests, by the way, were sparked, not by Djokovic, but by the government's illegal (as ruled by an Australian court) detention of Djokovic.

This perception of Djokovic being anti-vaccine was created by tennis journalists, who raged by his "anti-science" views in order to sway public opinion against him. None of this had anything to do with tennis.

The net result is that the athlete who has dominated tennis on the island of Australia more than anyone in history is not being allowed to defend his title, despite being eligible, willing and ready to do so. Instead, he was targeted and banned by politicians for political reasons.

This year's Australian Open is not an open tournament. It has not allowed the best players in the world to compete for the trophy. Therefore, this year's Australian Open is illegitimate. Tennis Australia, the ATP and the ITF have been silent in hopes that this scandal will go away. Rather than advocating for the interests of the greatest tennis player of all time, they hung him out to dry and now want everyone to move on and pretend this year's Australian Open is legitimate. It is not. It was always be tainted.