It came as no surprise when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison plunged into fury over the vaccine exemption granted to tennis star Novak Djokovic to compete in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

After all, Morrison’s government was being battered by an increase in the number of Omicron cases, a chaotic testing system and empty supermarket shelves just months before the election.

When Djokovic, the unvaccinated world number one male tennis player, announced he was traveling to Melbourne to defend his Australian Open title, Morrison, whose Liberal Party was behind Labor in the polls, was went on the offensive.

The prime minister warned that Djokovic, who was still in the air, could be “put back on the first return plane”. Djokovic’s visa was duly canceled and he was detained pending his deportation.

But a federal court decision to overturn the visa cancellation on Monday has embarrassed the Morrison government and called attention to inconsistencies in Australian immigration laws in a country that prides itself on its strict border controls .

The botched management of the unvaccinated athlete has proven particularly infuriating for voters who have had to endure some of the world’s toughest restrictions.

The court ruling left the Morrison government with two politically unpleasant options.

He could choose to leave Djokovic’s visa in effect, although Morrison has said the player is not allowed to be in the country. Or he could once again cancel the visa and hold it. This, however, risks reigniting a diplomatic row with the Serbian government and street protests in Melbourne, which has just emerged from the world’s longest Covid-19 lockdown.

Morrison insisted last week that Djokovic was treated the same as anyone trying to “cross the border” to Australia.

The position was welcomed by an Australian public who had reacted with fury to the news that an apparently healthy Djokovic had been granted an exemption despite the country’s strict vaccination laws.

Mark Kenny, a professor at the Australian Studies Institute, said the government was under immense pressure due to rising infection rates, Covid testing issues and supply chain challenges. But he had “sensed the mood” of voters irritated by the arrival of Djokovic.

“It seemed pretty obvious that Morrison was happy to appear strong at the borders and not talk about the many Covid test failures. For a while it looked like Morrison was about to win, ”Kenny said.

For more than two decades, the Liberal Party has made border control a central part of its policies. The decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa again will be taken by Alex Hawke, the Minister of Immigration and one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies.

A government official said: “In accordance with due process, Minister Hawke will give this matter careful consideration. As the issue is ongoing, for legal reasons it is inappropriate to comment further. “

Maria Jockel of BDO Migration Services said a minister again using her personal powers to cancel the visa was not without precedent. But that would have to be justified on public policy grounds and would likely be challenged, which would open Australia’s border laws to further scrutiny.

She added that the federal and state governments “collectively need the wisdom of Solomon” to find a solution to border issues such as the one presented by the Djokovic saga.

Australia’s complex immigration laws have been under scrutiny since Djokovic was detained at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport last week. The player’s visa was issued by the federal government and his medical exemption was approved by two groups of independent medical experts, one supported by the Victorian government and granted by the Chief Medical Officer of Tennis Australia.

But that did not guarantee him entry into the country, and court documents revealed that Djokovic may have incorrectly completed another document – a travel declaration – which is separate from the visa.

Kenny said the decision to issue visas to unvaccinated people who might not qualify for entry has forced border forces to “guess” the applications. “Ambiguity entered the process,” he said.

The federal and state governments and Tennis Australia have attempted to blame the controversy, with the rationale for the exemption – which Djokovic had contracted from Covid-19 in the past six months – hotly debated.

Daniel Andrews, the Labor Prime Minister of Victoria, stressed on Tuesday that his government was not responsible for the border farce. “We did not seek to convince the Commonwealth government to allow anyone to enter. In fact, quite the contrary,” he said.

Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party who will run for office against the Prime Minister in the coming months, said: “Scott Morrison has failed on testing, tracing, vaccines and quarantine. It is the grand slam of pandemic failures. “

Even some of Morrison’s own MPs have called on the government to drop the issue. John Alexander, a Liberal MP and former professional tennis player, said it would be a “mistake” to try to expel Djokovic after the court ruling. “I see it as something that shouldn’t become a political issue,” he told Australian public broadcaster ABC.

Yet Kenny argued that it was already a political dilemma for the government. “Either they double up or they don’t,” Kenny said. “There is a political cost to Morrison anyway.”