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18th Jan 2022

#AustraliaHasFallen has started trending after Novak Djokovic deported

Daniel Brown

‘#AustraliaHasFallen’ went viral on Monday

The hashtag ‘#AustraliaHasFallen’ has started trending after Novak Djoković was deported from Australia after having his visa cancelled for a second time.

The Serbian tennis star was deported from the country late on Sunday night after 12 days of legal battles saw the Federal Court side with immigration minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel his visa.

Djokovic has also been banned from Australia for three years, with home affairs minister Karen Andrews confirming that the three-year ban was as a result of the outcome of the court decision.

However, support for the 34-year-old has not been scarce – with a number of high profile sports stars expressing their backing of the Serb.

Many people are annoyed at the decision to deport Djokovic, which has seen the phrase ‘Australia has fallen’ used on a number of occasions in recent days. As well as this, it was turned into a viral hashtag on Twitter on Monday (January 17), with many people using it to express their support for the 20-time Grand Slam winner.

While some individuals have threatened to boycott Australia as they are against the government’s decision to twice cancel Djokovic’s visa, immigration minister Alex Hawke suggested that his refusal to get vaccinated could have led to anti-vaccination sentiments in the country.

Mr Hawke cited ‘health’ and ‘good order’ under section 133C (3) of the Migration Act as grounds for deporting the Serbian.

Although ‘#AustraliaHasFallen’ started with people defending Djokovic, people in favour of the government’s decision were quick to use it to call out the tennis star and explain the reasons why he was deported.

Djokovic was aiming to defend his Australian Open title and clinch his 21st Grand Slam – which would have seen him move ahead of rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.