Tennis-Tiley denies reports Djokovic will sue Tennis Australia

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian Open event director Craig Tiley has refuted studies Novak Djokovic will sue Tennis Australia following his deportation from Australia, and stated he expects the world primary to return to play on the Grand Slam occasion subsequent yr.

Djokovic, who has gained the Australian Open on 9 events, was denied the chance to defend the title he claimed final yr after a federal courtroom dismissed his effort to remain within the nation to play on the event.

Stories have since surfaced that Djokovic was planning to sue Tennis Australia, however Tiley denied that was the case in an interview with broadcaster ABC on Sunday.

“No,” stated Tiley when requested about the specter of authorized motion.

“There may be going to be a number of studies on various things, however we’re ready as we concentrate on delivering an occasion proper now, and we are going to proceed to ship an excellent occasion.”

Tiley additionally believes Djokovic will return to Australia regardless of the chance the Serb might face a three-year ban from travelling into the nation because of his deportation.

“Sure,” he stated when requested if the 20-time Grand Slam winner could be again subsequent yr.

“Clearly, he’s acquired to play out this yr, however that might be his intention.

“On the finish of the day, he’s the primary participant on this planet and he actually loves the Australian Open.”

Tiley blamed miscommunication with the federal authorities for the problems that resulted in Djokovic being kicked out of Australia.

“It was an extremely difficult surroundings,” he stated.

“One or two bits of communication doesn’t outline all of the quantities of communication that continued to go on main into the occasion.

“We knew we had been going to have a troublesome interval and that’s why there was loads of contradiction and complexity with data.”

(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong, Enhancing by Daniel Wallis)