Australian Open chief Craig Tiley speaks out on Djokovic row

The reigning Australian Open champion is currently being detained and has been told to stay put at Melbourne’s Park Hotel which houses refugees and asylum seekers after he was refused entry into the country due to a mix-up with his visa and scrutiny over his reasons to be granted a medical exemption.

Speaking to 9News Tiley said:

“We’re not going to lay the blame on anyone because there’s much contradictory information the whole time. Every single week we were talking to home affairs, we were talking to all parts of government to ensure that one, we were doing the right thing and we were on the right process with these exemptions, but knowing also that everyone coming in had to be vaccinated."

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When pressed on the matter more, Tiley once again said:

I’m not going to blame anyone. All I’m going to say is we know what we know, we know what we have in front of us and we’re going to do the best job we can to do what we do to bring these players in. The majority of them are in a position (to play the Australian Open) because we’ve got to this point – I would like to see him (Djokovic) play the Australian Open.”