It looks more like a movie script than sound policy being played out.

Everyone who takes the remotest interest in tennis has known for months that Novak Djokovic intended to play the 2022 Australian Open.

Although time is on his side, the landmark achievements that are available make it way too tempting to pass up the opportunity.

While it may not have fallen into the same definitively known bucket, it was widely assumed that the 20-time grand slam winner, intended to take part without being double vaccinated.

Why then was the situation allowed to fester so that the matter only came to a head when the man actually landed in Australia?

It would always be handy in situations like this to have all the facts or have been a fly on the wall in every room where some input into the decision was made.

While Djokovic is absolutely entitled to privacy on any personal medical conditions that are in play, there's no question all of this would have been much easier from months ago if he had been prepared to share such information.

But in the absence of that we are left with trying to fathom competing bureaucratic processes and bald statements from either direction that all has been done correctly or not so.

Surely Djokovic would not have made the long journey to Australia - in whatever class he travelled - if he thought there was any substantive risk of him being turned around, let alone being locked up in accommodation several levels below that to which he is accustomed.

Even the federal minister acknowledged that he had a valid visa when he took off for Australia - it was just a small matter of him not complying with it when he landed.

That even for a moment this might appear to be a chest pumping game between state and federal instrumentalities doesn't provide a good look for Australia as it prepares to host an array of world sporting events in the decade leading up to and including the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It is a basic tenet of hosting major events that the government will allow freedom of entry for all legitimate participants.

As it happens right now Djokovic's own country Serbia, along with Malaysia, has been threatened by the International Olympic Committee for failing to do exactly this.

Now for sure it is a different situation - political motives are different from health measures. But any action denying entry must be reasonably based. And it's unlikely that this will be lost in the minds of the Serbians when analysing this situation.

Serbia is in strife because it denied entry to members of the Kosovar boxing team when it hosted the recent world championships in Belgrade. Malaysia actually had the right to host world teams squash championships withdrawn when it refused visas for the Israeli delegation.

They are not alone of course. The two Koreas are always in trouble over each other, Spain in relation to Gibraltar and a whole host of countries across North Africa and the Middle East on the subject of Israeli participation.

Australia has always managed to be a cleanskin in this regard - although it has been a victim as far back as the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when several nations stayed away in protest at the participation of others.

And it's not that the IOC and other global governing bodies are unreasonable about these requirements. It has always been considered acceptable, for example, for host countries to require evidence of smallpox or other vaccinations in order for entry to be granted to event participants.

Both the requirement imposed and the process by which it is managed must surely be reasonable and transparent.

In Djokovic's case the requirement for him to be double vaccinated or have a soundly-based exemption is completely reasonable - and without doubt the expectation of the vast majority of Australians.

But the process right now looks to be a shambles - no leadership, confusion over who is in charge, one-upmanship and little or no transparency.

If Djokovic is at fault here, then he can indeed catch the first flight home.

But if this has been more about a domestic bureaucratic game then apologies may be in order.