A former Wimbledon semi-finalist booted out of the country, a former Australian Open tournament boss declaring that he felt a sense of shame.
What has been carefully cultivated as the so-called 'Happy Slam' descended further into recrimination on Friday as the Novak Djokovic affair slid into an omni-shambles over the issue of vaccine exemptions.
The chaos was summed up when Nick Kyrgios — normally a vociferous critic of Djokovic, previously describing him as a 'tool' — stepped in to offer sympathy to the incarcerated world No 1.
The Novak Djokovic affair slid into an omni-shambles over the issue of vaccine exemptions
The chaos was summed up when Nick Kyrgios (L) offered sympathy to the world No 1 (R)
While affirming his support for vaccines, the Australian player said: 'How we are handling Novak's situation is bad, really bad. Like these memes, headlines, this is one of our great champions but at the end of the day, he is human. Do better.'
Djokovic spent another day in his detention hotel ahead of his court case on Monday and was joined there on Friday by 2017 Wimbledon doubles semi-finalist Renata Voracova. The 38-year-old Czech player arrived in the country last month and has already played an Australian Open warm-up event, but was told to leave with immediate effect.
Sportsmail understands all 26 tennis personnel who originally applied for a vaccine exemption were contacted on Thursday evening and told their cases were being looked at.
A third individual, a non-playing tournament official from overseas, has already left the country on a voluntarily basis.
Djokovic spent another day in his detention hotel ahead of his court case on Monday
Djokovic is expected to spend the weekend in contact with his Melbourne lawyers
Voracova would not be following Djokovic in issuing a legal challenge and was on Friday seeking the quickest possible exit route.
British player Tara Moore, who is in Victoria for a lower-tier tournament, will surely have spoken for others in her assessment of the Czech's situation: 'Revoking someone's visa who's already entered the country and played a match is crazy, the rules needed to be clearer from the beginning. This is a huge bungle.'
There is growing anger at the role of Tennis Australia, who appear not to have clearly communicated with players the hurdles that the non-vaccinated would face.
An Australian Open information sheet — sent to all competitors — was leaked on Friday and states players 'may be eligible for a temporary medical exemption' if they have a 'recent PCR- confirmed Covid infection, where vaccination can be deferred until six months after the infection'.
According to the Herald Sun newspaper, central government warned the tennis authorities in November that having suffered from Covid in the previous six months could not be considered grounds for entry to the country.
He was joined at the hotel by 2017 Wimbledon doubles semi-finalist Renata Voracova
British player Tara Moore has spoken for others in her assessment of the Czech's situation
While not yet confirmed, this is believed to be the basis on which Djokovic thought he could freely enter
