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Through a statement, the current world number one and defending champion of the Australian Open spoke about what he described as “misinformation” about his case. He held his team responsible for a “human” mistake made when filling out the Australian entry form.
In his statement published on the social network Instagram, Djokovic wanted to clarify the information published in multiple international media about the days he suffered from Covid-19 in December, and for which he obtained the medical exemption with which he entered the oceanic country.
After spending several days confined in a hotel for migrants, a judge reversed the cancellation of his visa and released him. Opening the door to his first practices on the track at Rod Laver Arena, ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year. However, a new chapter of confrontation was opened with the Australian immigration authorities who are now investigating him for having, allegedly, lied in the travel declaration that he delivered to customs.
Nole, as he is known to his fans, said he attended a December 14 basketball game in Belgrade, Serbia. Event in which several people have tested positive for the virus. He stated that despite showing no symptoms, an antigen test was performed on day 16. Test that gave a negative result.
The world number one tennis player, said that out of “an abundance of prudence”, he decided to have a PCR test performed on the same day. And on December 17, he participated in an act with children, also in the Serbian capital. Djokovic claims to have carried out a second antigen test, which would also have been negative.
However, the athlete acknowledged that that same day 17, after the event with the minors, the result of the PCR arrived that confirmed that he was positive for Covid-19.
He described “as an error of judgment” having attended an interview for the French outlet L’Equipe on December 18.
“I felt compelled to go ahead and do the L’Equipe interview because I didn’t want to disappoint the journalist, but I made sure to distance myself socially and wear a mask, except when my photograph was being taken (…) On second thought, this was a mistake of judgment and I accept that I should have rescheduled that commitment ”, reads part of the published statement.
On the other hand, the 34-year-old Serbian blamed his team for an alleged mistake, made by his team, when filling out the immigration form to enter Australia.
“Regarding the issue of my travel statement, my support team sent it on my behalf and, as I told the immigration officials upon my arrival, my agent apologizes for the clerical error in checking the wrong box about me. previous trip before coming to Australia ”.
The trip to which Djokovic refers is a stop in Spain at the end of 2021 that was not declared upon arrival in Australia and that is the object of the current investigation against him.
Australian immigration authorities confirmed that they had received additional information from Djokovic’s team regarding his stop in Spain. Reason for which, they assure the time frame for the decision on whether or not to cancel your visa will be affected.
With Reuters
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