Having once failed to remove the unvaccinated 34-year-old from the country, the Australian Government is trying again.

And again Djokovic is fighting back, with a new federal court appeal scheduled FOR TODAY (SUNDAY) JAN 16 AT 9:30am AEDT, with live coverage right here.

The Serbian ace is back at a notorious Melbourne immigration detention facility after a few short-lived days of freedom following his first successful court appeal.

Very much in Djokovic’s corner is Nick Kyrgios who has slammed the handling of the fiasco.

“We’re treating him like he’s a weapon of mass destruction at the moment,” he said. “Literally he is here to play tennis.

“The mistreating of the people of Melbourne over the past two years has been atrocious, and I understand the anger towards him being unvaccinated and the medical exemption, I understand that. Now I feel like the people, no matter what Novak does, they’re just going to say ‘get him out of our country’.

“The media has borderline ruined the Australian Open, divided everyone and it’s not what sport’s supposed to do.”

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8:58am DJOKER ON THE MOVE
In the last few minutes, Djokovic has been photographed leaving the horror hotel to make his way to his lawyer’s office in order to watch the court hearing.
We are about 30 minutes from things getting started.
Joining me this morning are James Campbell and Anneka Simonis who will be translating the court hearing as it goes.
Word from our reporter at the hotel, Laura Placella: Novak Djokovic has returned to his lawyers’ office on Collins St after departing the notorious Park Hotel around 8.30am.The tennis champ could be seen sporting a Lacoste sweater and blue jeans as he left the detention facility, having changed out of the green tracksuit set he arrived in on Saturday.

8:43am WHAT HAPPENS TODAY?
The court’s format -- a panel of three justices -- leaves little room to appeal any decision.

Scott Morrison’s government has tried and failed to remove Djokovic once before -- on the grounds he was unvaccinated and that a recent Covid infection was not sufficient for a medical exemption.

A lower circuit judge ruled that officials made procedural errors in that decision.

For a few days, Djokovic was free to train before a second visa revocation and a return to a notorious Melbourne immigration detention facility.
Djokovic’s high-powered legal team are expected to kick off proceedings, arguing his detention and his deportation are “illogical,” “irrational” and “unreasonable.” If the 34-year-old loses, he will face immediate deportation and a three-year ban from Australia -- dramatically shortening his odds of winning a championship he has bagged nine times before.

If he wins, it sets the stage for an audacious title tilt and will deal another humiliating blow to Australia’s embattled prime minister ahead of elections expected in May.

8:40am D-DAY IS HERE
Good morning and welcome to what feels like day 1043 of the Djokovic fiasco. With any luck today is it. End. Finito. Terminato (not even sure that’s a real language word) but you get my drift. This needs to end. We need to talk about backhands, lobs, smashes and how many racquets Nick Kyrgios is smashing.

We will be following the court hearing live, translating the jargon that seems to make time stand still, and bring it to you in snippets.