MELBOURNE, Australia —
Novak Djokovic on Wednesday
admitted "errors" in his travel papers and for not isolating after a
claimed coronavirus infection, as he battled to stay in Australia and fight for
a record 21st Grand Slam.
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The world number one said his team had offered fresh
information to the Australian government, which is pondering whether to cancel
his visa, again, and throw him out of the country.
"We are living in challenging times in a global
pandemic and sometimes these mistakes can occur," the unvaccinated
34-year-old said in a statement released as he practiced on the courts of the
Australian Open, which starts Monday.
The Serbian star flew into Melbourne a week ago claiming a
vaccine exemption because of a positive
PCR test result on December 16.
Border agents rejected his exemption saying a recent
infection did not qualify, tore up his visa and placed him in a detention center.
But the vaccine-skeptic Djokovic's high-powered legal team
dramatically overturned the visa decision in court on Monday on a procedural matter
related to his airport interview.
Now,
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke says he is considering canceling
the visa another time, as fresh doubts emerge.
In an update to Australian media, his spokesman acknowledged
receiving "lengthy further submissions" from the player's
lawyers.
"Naturally, this will affect the timeframe for a
decision," he said.
Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open champion, described
reports about his post-infection outings in Serbia as
"misinformation".
On the day of his claimed positive test in Serbia, he
appeared at a ceremony to honor him with stamps bearing his image. The
following day he attended a youth tennis event. He appeared at both apparently
without a mask.
Djokovic, who made no mention of the stamp ceremony, said he
only received the PCR test result after attending the children's tennis event.
But he admitted that he also went ahead with an interview
and photoshoot with French sports newspaper L'Equipe on December 18.
"I felt obliged to go ahead and conduct the L'Equipe interview
as I didn't want to let the journalist down but did ensure I socially distanced
and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken," he said.
"On reflection, this was an error of judgement and I
accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment."
The player said he also had two rapid antigen tests, which
both returned negative results: one on December 16 when he first suspected
being infected and one on December 17 before attending the children's tennis
event.
The tennis ace also admitted a mistake on his Australian
travel declaration, in which a box was ticked indicating that he had not, or
would not, travel in the 14 days before taking his flight to Melbourne.
In fact, social media posts and reports show he flew from
Serbia to Spain during that period.
"This was submitted by my support team on my
behalf," Djokovic said.
"My agent sincerely apologies for the administrative
mistake in ticking the incorrect box about my previous travel before coming to
Australia. This was a human error and certainly not deliberate."
In another twist, Australian media on Wednesday seized on
reporting by Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper that cast doubt over the tennis
star's positive test.
The newspaper said it had scanned the QR code on Djokovic's
Serbian PCR test, which it said delivered a negative result, only to change to
a positive result an hour later.
It was not possible to independently verify the Der Spiegel
story, and Djokovic did not refer to those specific issues on Wednesday.
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