TTennis pro Novak Djokovic has made a detailed statement himself for the first time since he had problems entering Australia. The 34-year-old number one in the world rankings only marginally addressed the initially refused entry to the host country of the Australian Open in a comment published on Instagram on Wednesday. Above all, he commented on his positive corona test in December and the allegations that resulted from it, that he had nevertheless shown himself to the public in breach of the regulations in his home country of Serbia, as well as endangering others.
According to Djokovic, the day before an event with children he did a negative antigen test and, out of sheer caution, also a PCR test. “I had no symptoms and felt fine and I didn’t get the news of the positive PCR test until after the event,” he wrote.
Interview despite Corona
The following day he had a long-agreed interview with the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”. “Although I went home after the interview and went into isolation for the prescribed length of time, after thinking more carefully, that was a misjudgment and I understand that I should have postponed this commitment,” he wrote.
The fact that his entry form incorrectly stated that he had not traveled in the 14 days before his flight to Australia was described by Djokovic as a “human error” by his agent, “which was certainly not done on purpose”. His employees have provided the Australian authorities with further information in order to provide clarity in this regard. It was important to him to clarify all of this, but out of respect for the Australian government, he would not comment on the occurrences.
Djokovic was refused entry into the country last week because he was not vaccinated against the coronavirus and the documentation of his medical exemption was insufficient for the authorities. Because the border officials had not given him the agreed time to clarify, the decision was overturned during a court hearing on Monday. The Australian immigration minister has reserved the right to exercise his personal rights and still invalidate Djokovic’s visa. That decision is still pending.
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