By now, you’ve probably heard about the whole Novak Djokovic visa saga and how he won’t be able to participate in this year’s Australian Open because he was deported from the country. But let’s take a quick look over what happened in case you’re not fully familiar with the situation.
In November 2021, the CEO of Tennis Australia said everyone participating in the Australian Open would need to be fully vaccinated, including all the players. In December, however, it was announced that players could apply for a medical exemption from vaccination in order to play, and the assessments would be done by independent medical bodies working closely with the Victorian government. Given that Djokovic has openly stated that he is anti-vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic, which won him the nickname of NoVax Djokovic, he went ahead and applied for a medical exemption and his application was approved based on the fact that he had just gone through Covid-19.
However, upon his arrival in Melbourne on January 5, the Australian Border Force held him in for questioning at the airport, revoked his visa on the basis of a recent Covid infection not being enough to deserve medical exemption from Australia’s strict vaccination requirements, and then moved him to an immigration detention hotel. On January 10, a judge ruled in his favor to restore the visa.
In the following days, news came out that Djokovic had ticked the wrong box on an immigration form (falsely declaring that he had not traveled in the 14 days prior to his arrival in Australia) and that he had not immediately isolated after his Covid-19 result came back positive, showing up for an interview knowing that he was infected. We don’t know if these facts were factored into the final decision, but on Friday, January 14, immigration minister Alex Hawke decided to revoke his visa again and have him deported on grounds of Djokovic being a risk for public health and his potential to incite anti-vax controversies in Australia.
And while the decision left many people fuming, the Internet is still the Internet, and many other people couldn’t help but poke fun at the situation and post funny Djokovic memes related to deportation and the Australian Open 2022. And that’s what we’re here for, we’re not here to judge who’s right or wrong in this situation, but just have a little bit of fun and share it with you.
So let’s check out some of the best Djokovic memes people have come up with.
Best Djokovic Deportation Memes
Djokovic The Terminal Memes
Novak Djokovic Grand Slam Memes
The Djokovic Ryanair Meme
Visa vs. MasterCard Djokovic Memes
Novak Djokovic Nickname Memes
Djokovic vs. Australia Memes
Djokovic vs. Federer Meme
Djokovic Fake Covid Test
Djokovic The Terminal Memes
One of the most popular Djokovic deportation memes is the one showing Djokovic on the poster of the movie The Terminal, where Tom Hanks plays a character that is held up on the JFK airport due to problems with his visa, which couldn’t be more fitting for this situation. I’ve seen a few versions floating around, one where Djokovic wears the same outfit as the main character, and another where he is dressed in a full tennis outfit, complete with a racket. There are also different taglines on the poster, like the original “Life is waiting”, or “Tennis is waiting”, or “Vaccination is waiting”.
And sticking to movies, another meme plays on the poster of “The Departed”, only it reads “The Deported”:
I also liked this edited movie scene of Djokovic trying to make his way to the Australian Open:
Novak Djokovic Grand Slam Memes
I really liked this one with a wordplay around shots:
The Djokovic Ryanair Meme
Even airline company Ryanair mocked Djokovic with a tweet offering him a flight home, and posting an image that uses Hawk-eye technology, which is frequently used in tennis to visually track the trajectory of the ball and predict its most likely path. The image displays a tennis ball landing outside the sidelines, in a territory marked “Not Australia”. Since Hawke was the one who pulled the final trigger on his deportation, it only seems appropriate that Ryanair used Hawk-eye technology to poke some fun.
Visa vs. MasterCard Djokovic Memes
Of course, there had to be some MasterCard memes since his visa was not accepted:
Novak Djokovic Nickname Memes
Djokovic also got a few new nicknames such as Novax Jokervic and Novax Djocovid:
Djokovic vs. Australia Memes
Djokovic vs. Federer Meme
Someone on Twitter photoshopped his rival Roger Federer’s face on a customs and immigration officer, and it looks hilarious:
Djokovic Fake Covid Test
There has been speculation that Djokovic faked a positive Covid test result so he could qualify for medical exemption. Of course, he denied the rumors, but there are memes going around about it:
And last but not least, a cheers meme to those who don’t really care about this whole situation:
I hope you’ve enjoyed this, don’t forget to share the article with your friends for a good laugh.
See also: Is there social media for memes?
