The deportation of Djokovic made headlines in January 2022, but a year later, the Grand Slam tournament, country, and sport had moved on.

MELBOURNE, Australia — The Park Hotel in Melbourne’s Carlton area was closed the day before the Australian Open, with only the occasional pedestrian passing in front of its dusty, deserted entrance on a quiet Sunday.

Last year, the world’s top tennis player, Novak Djokovic, was detained in Carlton prior to the Open. After entering the nation unvaccinated for the coronavirus and failing his final legal appeal, he was ready to be deported by the Australian government and miss the competition.

A Melburnian, Ailsa McDermid, who was passing by on Sunday with two shopping bags in each hand and glancing up at the now-empty hotel, stated, “I simply think the whole thing was embarrassing and could have been prevented.”

Its enormous sign was concealed by a black blanket, a metaphor that felt suitable. L’Affaire Djokovic made worldwide news in January 2022, dominating conversation in the lead-up to the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which Djokovic had won nine times, a record for men’s tournaments.

A year later, though, the city, nation, and sport appear keen to move on while returning to tennis as usual.

The Australian Open “will mark a welcome return to normalcy after three years of bushfires, pandemic, and last year’s furor over Novak Djokovic’s vaccination status,” The Age, one of Melbourne’s leading newspapers, wrote in an editorial titled “Let’s Enjoy Great Tennis, Pure and Simple” and published online on Sunday.

Djokovic, 35, is one of the few major professional tennis players who has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus. However, Australia no longer demands confirmation of vaccination or a negative test for entry into the country, with the exception of passengers entering from China.

Though Djokovic was automatically barred from Australia for three years after his deportation, the new Australian government chose to overturn that ban in November, and the Serb has returned to a welcome every bit as warm as Saturday’s sultry summer weather in Melbourne.

He was cheered in Adelaide as he won a lead-in tournament against a strong field, and he received more strong and vocal support Friday night as he played an intermittently intense and lighthearted practice match in Rod Laver Arena with the Australian Nick Kyrgios in front of a capacity crowd of 15,000 that had snapped up the available tickets in under an hour.

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“I was very emotional, honestly, coming into the court with the reception that I received,” Djokovic said Saturday. “I didn’t know how that’s going to go after the events of last year. I’m very grateful for the kind of energy and reception, love and support I got.”

There is still ample resistance to Djokovic’s presence in Australia. In December, The Sydney Morning Herald commissioned a national poll in which 41 percent of the respondents said he should not be allowed to stay in the country and play in the Australian Open. Only 30 percent clearly supported his participation, and another 29 percent said they did not have a strong opinion on the matter.

But those mixed feelings have not been noticeable (or audible) during his matches so far, and he was relaxed enough Friday night to dance on changeovers and wiggle as he waited to return Kyrgios’s serve.