Tennis star Novak Djokovic received a warm welcome on Monday from spectators at the Adelaide International tournament less than a year after he was deported from Australia for falling foul of the country's anti-coronavirus rules.
The 35-year-old Serb, who has spoken candidly about his reluctance to have jabs against the deadly disease, played a doubles match with the Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
The pair lost in a third set super tiebreaker to Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar.
In the prelude to one of the warm-up events for the Australian Open, there were concerns that the former world number one would be jeered for not getting a vaccination against coronavirus and for trying to enter a country that had undergone a series of strict quarantines.
However, several fans waved banners in support of a player attempting to win a record-extending 10th title at the Australian Open which begins on 16 January.
Since the cancellation of Djokovic's visa in January 2022, all Covid-related border restrictions have been removed in Australia, including the requirement to provide evidence of vaccination status to enter the country.
Djokovic begins his singles campaign in Adelaide on Tuesday against the 30-year-old French journeyman Constant Lestienne.
Better wins
On Monday at the tournament, there were several shocks.
Hometown hero Alexei Popyrin beat the second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-6 and Yoshihito Nishioka eliminated the fifth seed Holger Rune.
Popyrin, 23, who had come through the qualifying tournament, hailed the victory as one of the high points of his time on the circuit.
"He’s one of the in-form players that we have on the tour right now,” Popyrin said. “So if we go by ranking and by performance, then yeah, it’s probably one of the better wins of my career.
"It’s a really, really great win for me, but honestly, it’s not anything I’m super pumped about.
“It’s something that I fully expect myself to do ... be able to beat these players, and it’s how I come out to play these matches against these guys.”
In the women's event, Czech teenager Linda Noskova saw off the world number eight Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to advance to the second round.
The 18-year-old - ranked 102 in the world - emerged from the qualifiers where she beat the world number 58 Anna Kalinskaya and the 43rd ranked Anastasia Potapova.
