Novak Djokovic’s 2022 Australian Open controversy, explained

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have seen a lot of news lately about Novak Djokovic and the 2022 Australian Open and wondered: What's going on there? We're here to help.

The first tennis Grand Slam of the year is coming in two weeks, with the 2022 Australian Open beginning on Jan. 17.

Novak Djokovic -- who has won the tournament nine times including the last three Aussie Opens -- appeared to be a part of it ... but now it looks like that may not happen.

What's the deal and the controversy? Let's break it down:

What's the big deal about Djokovic playing in Australia?

On January 4, Djokovic tweet a photo of him heading to Australia and mentioned he was going "with an exemption permission" to play.

An exemption?

Yes. Specifically, it was a medical exemption from getting the COVID-19 vaccination.

Is he not vaccinated?

He refuses to reveal if he's received it.

However: Back in April of 2020, he had this to say (via USA TODAY Sports):

Back in November of 2021, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley confirmed everyone playing would need to be fully vaccinated:

I can't imagine people were happy about that.

They were not. Australian legislators and others expressed their fury on Twitter:

What happened next?

There were these tweets:

And that was coupled with news from The Times that due to a visa application mix-up, he wasn't allowed to enter the country. Apparently, the visa he applied for doesn't allow for medical exemptions if you're unvaccinated. Those tweets above hammer home the point.

So now what?

It feels like the Australian government is stepping in to overrule the Open organizers and those who granted the exception to Djokovic. Will any of that change in the coming days? We'll see.

UPDATE: According to multiple reports, including The Age's Paul Sakkal, Djokovic's visa has been canceled, and he's appealing.

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