Novak Djokovic is currently in quarantine in Melbourne, as he awaits his fate after the cancellation of his Australian visa. The Serbian has challenged the decision in federal court, with his hopes of defending his Australian Open title on the rocks. Djokovic controversially announced earlier this week he would be competing at the year's first Major thanks to a medical exemption against the Covid-19 vaccine. However the 20-time Grand Slam winner was detained by officials on entry to Australia and could face deportation from the country ahead of the tournament, which is scheduled to begin on January 17th. Djokovic's detainment has created an international incident, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying: "There are no special cases, rules are rules. We will continue to make the right decisions when it comes to securing Australian borders in relation to this pandemic." Meanwhile Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said: "I told our Novak that the whole of Serbia is with him and that our bodies are doing everything to see that the harassment of the world's best tennis player is brought to an end immediately."
Chelsea have one foot in the League Cup final after they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the first leg of their semi-final clash last night. It was a miserable return to Stamford Bridge for former Blues boss Antonio Conte, who saw his Spurs side go 1-0 down after five minutes after Davinson Sanchez turned a Kai Havertz shot past Hugo Lloris. Chelsea then doubled their lead through a comical Ben Davies own goal, leaving Spurs with a mountain to climb in order to make it to Wembley. For the hosts, Thomas Tuchel handed a start to Romelu Lukaku, following the striker's apology following a controversial interview he gave to Sky Italia. Meanwhile tonight's other semi-final first leg between Arsenal and Liverpool has been postponed until Thursday January 13th after the EFL granted Liverpool's request for the fixture to be called off. This came on the back of a Covid outbreak, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders joining Jurgen Klopp in isolation.
Elsewhere, in his column this morning Ciarán Murphy has explained his reluctance to join the masses and become fully invested in the World Darts Championship, which ended with Peter Wright being crowned champion on Monday night. He writes: "It is, in its way, a kind of self-care. I know the Ally Pally is just a gateway drug. Soon I'd be tuning into the darts from Milton Keynes, from Barnsley, from Minehead. When you're dealing with a man like me - weak, foolish, prone to headlong romances with any sport that will look at me sideways - you need to remember. The darts is not just for Christmas, it's for life."
England have it all to do again in order to avoid going 4-0 down in the Ashes, after Australia reached an imposing 416-8 before declaring in their first innings, Usman Khawaja making a fine 137 on his Test match return. In reply the tourists are 13-0 after reaching stumps unscathed on day two.
And Jack O'Connor's latest stint in charge of Kerry is off to a winning start, after the Kingdom thrashed a depleted Limerick side 2-23 to 0-6 at Austin Stack Park last night.
