Djokovic saga will not define Australian Open, says Tiley

MELBOURNE: Australian Open chief Craig Tiley said the Novak Djokovic saga will not define the 2022 tournament but that he regrets how the volatile situation took the focus off the Grand Slam and players leading up to the Melbourne Park major.

The 34-year-old Serb was deported from Australia after an 11-day rollercoaster involving two visa cancellations, two court challenges and five nights in two stints at an immigration detention hotel where asylum seekers are held.

Tennis Australia (TA) CEO Tiley, also tournament director of the year's first major, came under fire after Djokovic, who was not vaccinated for COVID-19, was told he could play at the Australian Open with a medical exemption.

The decision to grant nine-times champion Djokovic entry outraged many in Australia, which is battling its worst surge of infections and where the adult vaccination rate is more than 90 per cent.

The controversy completely overshadowed the build-up to the tournament but Tiley said his team deserved credit for managing to bring in over 3,500 participants from overseas amid the highly infectious Omicron variant.

"In the lead-in there was meticulous planning," Tiley told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday (Jan 25). "The one major challenge around the Djokovic situation doesn't define everything that went on because 99.999 per cent of everything was good.

"It has been very challenging and we're delivering an event in the middle of a very infectious strain. The tennis has been awesome. It's going to be a really good finish."

Multiple Australian news outlets called on the TA board to fire Tiley over the episode.

"I do have a regret and the regret I have is actually different," said Tiley, adding that he expected Djokovic to return in 2023. "The