Hours before a Federal Court hearing in Melbourne into his attempt to stay in Australia to defend his Australian Open Title, Novak Djokovic has sensationally fired two of his Australian Lawyers.
Although the papers were filed on Friday by Natalie Bannister and Penelope Ford of Hall & Willcox and approved by Djokovic himself allowing him to remain in the country until Monday, there was a glaring error on the document.
The document to be put before a Judge in a few hours time show that under the section ‘Filed on behalf of’ there was a spelling error, with the incorrect name ‘Novak Djokavic’ appearing on the injunction
The top of the document reads ‘Novak Djokovic applicant’ but the mistake comes further down on the first page.
Two days later lawyers Bannister and Ford were axed without a reason given, according to Swiss daily newspaper Aargauer Zeitung.
Djokovic has since hired an army of four lawyers; Paul Holdenson, Nikola Dragojlovic, Nick Wood and Jim Hartley, of Svensson Barristers.
If the defending Australian Open champion is not granted entry into Australia then Rafael Nadal would become one of favourites to win the first Major of the 2022 season.
The Spaniard issued a damning response when asked about the saga at a press conference after the Melbourne International warm up event to the Open which starts on 17 January.
“He made his own decisions, and everybody is free to take their own decisions, but then there are some consequences,” Nadal said.
“Of course, I don’t like the situation that is happening. In some way, I feel sorry for him.
“But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision.”
