Melbourne: Australia Open Head Craig Tiley said Novak Djokovic Saga would not define the 2022 tournament but he regretted how the volatile situation took the focus of the Grand Slam and the player to Major Taman Melbourne.
Serbia who was 34-year-old was deported from Australia after Rollercoaster 11 days involving two visa cancellations, two court challenges and five nights in two tasks at the Hotel Immigration Detention was held.
Tennis Australia CEO Tiley, also the Director of the First Major Tournament this year, came under fire after Djokovic, who was not vaccinated for Covid-19, was told that he could play in the Australian Open with a medical exception.
The decision to give nine-time championship entry was angry in Australia, which fought against the worst infection surge and where adult vaccination rates were more than 90%.
The controversy really shelted the buildup to the tournament but Tiley said his team did get credit to manage to bring more than 3,500 participants from abroad in the middle of the omicron variant which was very contagious.
“In the lead – there are careful planning,” said Tiley told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
“One big challenge around the situation Djokovic did not define everything that happened because 99.999% of everything was fine.” Very challenging and we deliver an event in the midst of a very contagious strain.
The tennis is extraordinary.
This will be a very good final result.
“Some Australian news outlets called for tile boards to fire Tiley above the episode.” I have regret and regret that I have actually differently, “said Tiley, added that he expected Djokovic.
To return in 2023.” Regret is a disorder that all of these scenarios in this challenging environment are created.
“We have more than 500 players here, ready to play and want to focus on tennis and want to focus on returning to them.
We all want to move and put them behind us so we can focus on tennis..” Of course there will be there.
The lesson we can learn but we do that every year.
We did a full review after the event we will do again this year.
We will see what we are doing well, we will see what we can improve when we plan 2023.
“Tiley, who has since received public support from the TA board, said he did not have clarity whether the players were not permitted in 2023 Australia Open when a pandemic continues to grow.
Even though there is damage to the TA’s reputation for Saga, he said there was no impact on the popularity of the events of Roger Federer once nicknamed ‘happy slam’.
“There is nothing bigger than the event.
And everyone needs to realize that, “Tiley said.” This event has been done very well in this situation.
In fact, we enjoy the audience to break the record on the broadcast.
“