Talk About Tennis 2.0

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:10 pm

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 4:42 pm A former State Dept friend of mine noticed that the law says people to the US arriving by plane must be vaccinated. He wondered if Djokovic could arrive by boat or through Mexico or Canada. I assume the same law applies by land or sea and he just didn't see that version, but it's a funny image, Novak pulling up in a yacht.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:12 pm I guess Wertheim deleted his tweet?

JazzNU wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:25 pm

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:12 pm I guess Wertheim deleted his tweet?

Yeah. What did it say?

ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:32 am

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:54 pm 106 points, all that legal prep and all the hearings. What a waste of everyone's time. Probably delayed immigration proceedings for someone for whom it's really life-changing to have the hearing. I still say it's Tennis Australia's fault.

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:00 pm

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:54 pm 106 points, all that legal prep and all the hearings. What a waste of everyone's time. Probably delayed immigration proceedings for someone for whom it's really life-changing to have the hearing. I still say it's Tennis Australia's fault.

What are the points? Do you mean they made 106 points in their written verdict? Agree about them resources. Such a shame. Tennis Australia is certainly culpable, but Djokovic didn't have to rely on them to know if he could enter the country legally. I'm surprised he didn't do the due diligence under the circumstances... unless he thought he needed TA's help to enter the country, which tells you right there something was wrong.

MJ2004 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:27 pm Djokovic has 80% stake in biotech firm developing Covid drug
QuantBioRes is working on a treatment not a vaccine, but CEO says tennis star is ‘not anti-vax’

Novak Djokovic is the controlling shareholder in a Danish biotech firm aiming to develop a treatment for Covid-19 that does not involve vaccination, it has emerged.

The world No 1, who was deported from Australia this week after the government cancelled his visa in a dispute over a medical exemption relating to his unvaccinated status, bought an 80% stake in QuantBioRes in 2020.

Ivan Loncarevic, the company’s chief executive, confirmed the investment to Reuters. He subsequently told the Financial Times that he had not spoken to Djokovic, who has won more than $150m in prize money, since November and that the tennis star was “not anti-vax”.

Djokovic flew out of Australia on Sunday after losing a legal challenge to overturn the cancellation of his visa by Alex Hawke, the country’s immigration minister, who said Djokovic’s presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he was a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”.

QuantBioRes has about 11 researchers working in Denmark, Australia and Slovenia, according to Loncarevic, who stressed the company was working on a treatment, not a vaccine. The company’s website says it started developing a “deactivation mechanism” for Covid-19 in July 2020.

Djokovic, who may also be barred from defending his French Open title in Roland Garros in May after the French government ruled on Monday that all athletes will have to be vaccinated in order to attend and compete in sporting events, acquired his stake in the company in June 2020.

The company is developing a peptide, which inhibits the coronavirus from infecting the human cell, and it expects to launch clinical trials in Britain this summer, Loncarevic said.

A spokesperson for Djokovic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

-The Guardian