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Diasabra 8 Januari 2022

‘I can feel it’: Djokovic sends thanks for the support

country’s COVID-19 rules Australia’s strict COVID-19 turned down by immigration
and compete in the Aus- vaccination requirements. officials because the hotel is
tralian Open. under lockdown.
He has been confined to
Djokovic received calls from the detention hotel in Mel- “Our Christmas is rich in
his native Serbia, including bourne pending a court many customs, and it is so
from his parents and the pres- hearing on Monday, a week important that a priest vis-
ident, who hoped to boost his before the start of the tourna- its him,” the church’s dean,
spirits on the holiday. ment, where he is seeking to Milorad Locard, told the Aus-
win his record-breaking 21st tralian Broadcasting Corp.
On Instagram, he posted: Grand Slam singles title. “The whole thing around
“Thank you to the people this event is appalling. That
around the world for your During the day, Djokovic’s he has to spend Christmas
continuous support. I can supporters, waving banners, in detention ... it is unthink-
feel it and it is greatly appre- gathered outside the Park able.”
ciated.” Hotel, used to house refu-
gees and asylum-seekers. The Australian Border Force
The 34-year-old athlete and said Friday that after further
vaccine skeptic was barred A priest from the Holy Trini- investigations into two other
from entering the country ty Serbian Orthodox Church people connected to the Aus-
(AP) - The top men’s ten- an immigration detention late Wednesday when fed- in Melbourne asked to visit tralian Open, one voluntarily
nis player in the world, hotel in Australia on Fri- eral border authorities at the the nine-time Australian left the country and another
Novak Djokovic, spent day as he sought to fend Melbourne airport rejected Open champion to celebrate was taken into detention
Orthodox Christmas in off deportation over the his medical exemption to Orthodox Christmas but was pending deportation.

Peacemaker needed for playoff expansion to progress

(AP) - College football an odd stance for the leader so inclusive.
needs a peacemaker. If they don’t, early expansion of a league whose past results Notre Dame would prefer 12
could be dead and attention suggest would never have a over eight, too. A bigger field Unsurprisingly, the Big 12′s
The administrators respon- instead turn to what comes problem getting its champ makes it easier for the Fight- Bowlsby supports the 12-
sible for managing the Col- after the current agreement into a 12-team field. ing Irish to remain indepen- team plan he helped create.
lege Football Playoff appear expires —- when the same dent, which might explain Despite facing uncertainty
to be at an impasse when it sticking points will still exist, The Group of Five confer- why the ACC is holding out with the future status of his
comes to expansion. Nobody but the opportunity to make ences, and especially Ameri- hope for eight as a way to changing conference, Bowls-
is against growing the current an additional half-billion in can Athletic Conference nudge Notre Dame football by seems more dedicated
field of four, but they now revenue before 2026 will not. Commissioner Mike Aresco, into the league. than any of the major players
seem to be entrenched in op- are against that 5+1+6 mod- to looking at the big picture.
posing positions regarding Bowlsby was part of the four- el, and prefer the original Kliavkoff and the Pac-12
how and when. person subcommittee that proposal’s guaranteed spots would like to protect the But there doesn’t appear to
started working on CFP ex- for the CFP’s six highest- Rose Bowl, the conference’s be enough trust among the
The CFP’s management pansion in 2019. If not for the ranked champions, regardless lucrative longtime partner. group for a voice from within
committee, comprised of 10 pandemic, expansion would of conference. But the newest commission- to broker a compromise.
conference commissioners probably have been approved er appears ready to jump on
and Notre Dame’s athletic di- in 2020. ACC Commissioner Jim board with any version of ex- What is needed in these nego-
rector, have 10 hours blocked Phillips remains concerned pansion after his conference tiations is someone without
off for meetings Saturday and As time passed and confer- about bypassing eight and ex- missed out on the CFP for territory to protect. A person
Sunday in Indianapolis to ences changed commis- panding to 12, which creates the sixth time in eight years. who has been empowered
discuss a new format for de- sioners, the dynamics of the issues with the academic cal- not to make unilateral deci-
ciding a champion. group changed, too. endar and length of season. Kliavkoff has also suggested sions but to build consensus
the Power Five could cut the among competitors — be-
The 12-team playoff proposal New leaders in the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference other five conferences out of cause that’s what these con-
on the table looked like a lock Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey the playoff decision-making ferences are.
to be approved by now when and Pac-12 were leery of the has made clear it’s 12 or four process when the current 12-
it was unveiled in June. That strategy of going public with for the SEC. year agreement runs out after That kind of collaborative
would have cleared the way the expansion plan before the 2025 season. Currently, leadership has always been
for it to be implemented in details could be worked out. “I feel prepared to show up consensus among all 11 CFP hard to come by in major col-
2024. Then the SEC’s plans to add and contribute to a decision, signatories is required to lege football, and once again
Texas and Oklahoma became yet I’m not certain if every- change the format but the it stands in the way of prog-
Instead, provincialism and public in July and skepticism body’s going to be in that next deal doesn’t have to be ress.
distrust have short-circuited grew. frame of mind,” Sankey told
the work. Nobody in the SiriusXM’s SEC Radio this
room appears capable of “Candidly, given everything week.
bridging the divides so col- that’s been said publicly,
lectively the group can do looks like we are stuck at four If the SEC had its way, there
what is best for college foot- for a while,” Pac-12 Com- would be no automatic bids
ball. It should also be noted missioner George Kliavkoff for league champs and all
that nobody has actually been said Wednesday in a radio in- 12 spots would be at-large.
empowered to do just that. terview with 750 The Game A predictable position for a
in Portland, Oregon. conference that for the sec-
“I will be very pleasantly sur- ond time in five years has
prised if we make it to the Big Ten Commissioner two of its teams playing the
finish line,” Big 12 Commis- Kevin Warren said he wants national championship with
sioner Bob Bowlsby told AP only Power Five conference Alabama and Georgia settling
about this weekend’s meet- champions to receive auto- things Monday night in In-
ings. matic bids to the playoff. It’s dianapolis.