Novak Djokovic received a positive welcome back to Australia as he made a rare doubles appearances at the Adelaide International.<\/span><\/p>\n The Serb was deported prior to the 2022 Australian Open because of his Covid-19 vaccination status.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Djokovic’s <\/span>three-year visa ban was overturned<\/span><\/a> in November, allowing him to enter the country.<\/span><\/p>\n He and Canada’s Vasek Pospisil were beaten 4-6 6-3 10-5 by Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar on his return.<\/span><\/p>\n The 21-time Grand Slam champion enjoyed overwhelming support from the crowd throughout the match, greeted by cheers and chants of “Novak, Novak” as he made his way on to court.<\/span><\/p>\n The 35-year-old, currently ranked world number five, stayed behind after the defeat to sign autographs and take photographs with fans.<\/span><\/p>\n He is top seed in the singles in Adelaide and will face Frenchman Constant Lestienne in the first round on Tuesday as he continues his build-up to the Australian Open, the first major of the season, which starts on 16 January.<\/span><\/p>\n Djokovic is a nine-time champion in Melbourne and is just one Grand Slam title shy of Rafael Nadal’s men’s record of 22.<\/span><\/p>\n Elsewhere in the Adelaide men’s singles on Monday, British number three Jack Draper beat South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo 6-2 6-1 to progress to the second round.<\/span><\/p>\n Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin stunned Canada’s second seed and world number six Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 7-6 (7-5) while world number 11 Holger Rune, of Denmark, also suffered an early exit at the hands of Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who won 2-6 6-4 6-4.<\/span><\/p>\n Last January, when Djokovic arrived in Australia for the 2022 tournament, Covid-19 cases were rising fast and government rules required anyone entering the country to be vaccinated – unless they had a valid medication exemption.<\/span><\/p>\n Djokovic, who was detained by the Australian Border Force on entering the country and <\/span>forced to stay at an immigration hotel<\/span><\/a>, claimed he had obtained a medical exemption to defend his title without being vaccinated because he had recently recovered from Covid.<\/span><\/p>\n However, after 10 days of legal argument, the government <\/span>ruled he did not meet the requirements for entry<\/span><\/a>, so his visa was cancelled and he was automatically banned from entering Australia until 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n Djokovic’s detention dominated the headlines in the build-up to the tournament, with crowds gathering outside his hotel campaigning for and against his eventual deportation.<\/span><\/p>\n Immigration Minister Andrew Giles – whose government came to power in May – overturned the visa ban in November and Djokovic said he was <\/span>“very happy”<\/span><\/a> on hearing the news.<\/span><\/p>\n Nadal’s poor start to 2023 continued as he fell to a second defeat at the United Cup, beaten 3-6 6-1 7-5 by Australia’s Alex de Minaur in what was his last match before he mounts his Australian Open title defence.<\/span><\/p>\n The 36-year-old world number two was beaten earlier in the inaugural mixed team-tournament by Cameron Norrie as Great Britain beat his Spain team 4-1.<\/span><\/p>\n “Honestly, I’m not too alarmed or too negative about what happened. There was a real chance to lose these kinds of matches,” said Nadal.<\/span><\/p>\n “There is room to improve. I really believe I can do it.”<\/span><\/p>\n He added: “I have two weeks before the start. I can’t say the situation is ideal, but I can’t say that it’s very negative.<\/span><\/p>\n “For moments I was playing well. I arrived needing a little bit more time.”<\/span><\/p>\n De Minaur’s win gave Australia a 1-0 lead over Spain in both teams’ final contest of the United Cup, with neither able to progress from the group stage with Britain top of the standings.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat happened 12 months ago? <\/h3>\n
Nadal loses again in United Cup<\/h3>\n
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