The final decision on the nine-time winner, defending tennis player at the Australian Open, will be made by Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke.
Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one male tennis player, admitted in a statement that he had made a wrong decision in December when he interviewed the French sports newspaper L’Equipe . The Serbian world star arrived in Melbourne, the site of the Australian Open, last Wednesday, but was denied entry to the country at the airport, his entry was revoked, he had to wait for hours in a room and then be accommodated in a designated hotel. He got his visa back on Monday following a court decision, but it remains questionable whether he can start the Grand Slam. Djokovic had previously made vaccination skeptics, so his arrival in Australia provoked tremendous outrage as he was suspected of being singled out. The player’s lawyers released documents on Saturday stating that Djokovic had obtained the entry visa in mid-November and a medical exemption certificate on December 30th. The latter on the basis of a positive test on 16 December. The 20-time GS winner posted an announcement on Instagram on Wednesday because the scandal didn’t stop around him, it became clear that he had not been quarantined despite his positive test and had attended a public event for children in addition to the newspaper interview. *) “I was not notified of the positive result of the PCR test until that event. The next day, on December 18, I gave L’Equipe an interview arranged much earlier at my tennis center in Belgrade. I have canceled all my other programs, “Djokovic wrote in a statement. – “I felt obligated to do the interview because I didn’t want to let the journalist down, but at the same time I kept a safe distance and wore a mask all the way except for the photo shoot. I should have postponed the interview. “That’s not the only reason he had to explain now, as photos and videos appeared on various websites and social media on Monday that Djokovic, who lives in Monaco, had also been in Serbia and Spain for 14 days prior to his trip to Australia, while he answered no. whether he had been abroad in the two weeks prior to his trip to Melbourne. “My travel declaration was filled in by my team on my behalf, as I told the border guards when I arrived in the country. it was a human error, but by no means intentional. We live in challenging times during a pandemic, and such mistakes do occur, “said the 34-year-old athlete. The final decision on the nine-time winner, defending tennis player at the Australian Open, will be made by Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke no earlier than Thursday, the day of the draw for the GS race, which kicks off on Monday. Serbian parliament spokeswoman Ivica Dacic has previously expressed concern that if Hawke expels Djokovic from Australia, the world leader will not be able to enter the country for the next three years. The Prime Minister of Serbia and Australia agreed on Tuesday on a matter that has sparked huge international response. The former, Ana Brnabic, criticized Djokovic in an interview on Tuesday, even before the tennis player’s announcement, said he could have violated Serbian law in December by not remaining infected in quarantine. Source: MTI
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