The federal circuit and family court in Melbourne is scheduled to take up on Monday a plea from tennis star Novak Djokovic challenging his deportation from Australia, ahead of the Australian Open.
Reuters reported Djokovic's lawyers would have up to two hours to present their case from 10am (local time) on Monday, while the government would get two hours to present its defence from 3pm.
The Scott Morrison government had appealed to the court to delay hearing in the matter until Wednesday; however, the judge refused to consider the request.
Sydney Morning Herald reported, “The federal government had been seeking the extension before Djokovic’s lawyers filed their submission, which claimed the 20-time grand slam winner had not been treated with procedural fairness and had been given indications he would be permitted into Australia on January 1.”
Reuters reported that the Australian government was scrambling to file a defence on their decision.
Meanwhile, Tennis Australia had informed the court that it would need to know by Tuesday whether Djokovic could compete in the Australian Open, for scheduling purposes. However, judge Anthony Kelly indicated he would not be rushed.
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“The tail won’t be wagging the dog here. If Tennis Australia decides to do what it wants to do in running its enterprise, it will. All I can do is provide every facility available to this court to assist these parties to resolve it in the best way possible,” Kelly was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.