Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley has defended his organisation’s job in handling the Novak Djokovic visa crisis as the governing body for tennis in Australia has been accused of misleading players in a memo, which advised them it was OK to travel to Melbourne.
Tiley posted an internal video to staff on Saturday, which has since been leaked, saying staff had done “unbelievable job”.
“There is a lot finger pointing going on… but I can assure you our team has done an unbelievable job,” he said in the video.
Tiley said his organisation had chosen not to address the issue in public because of Djokovic’s lawsuit.
Tennis Australia has been accused of misleading players in the memo, which advised them that a recent Covid-19 infection was grounds for a temporary medical exemption from vaccination.
But a letter in November from government health officials specifically told them that advice was only valid for Australian residents, not for foreign nationals trying to enter the country.
Foreigners are still mostly banned from travel to Australia, and those who are granted access must be fully vaccinated or have an appropriate medical exemption, which does not include having previously contracted the virus.
Over 100 people attended a protest in Melbourne on Saturday, some supporting Djokovic, but most anti-vaxx campaigners.
The State of Victoria posted a record 51,356 new covid cases on Saturday.
