Djokovic Admits False Assertion on Australia Journey Doc

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked males’s tennis participant, acknowledged on Wednesday {that a} journey doc he introduced to Australian border officers final week contained false data, because the nation’s authorities continued to research whether or not he ought to be deported.

Mr. Djokovic additionally stated that he had participated in an interview and a photograph shoot final month in his native Serbia even after testing constructive for the coronavirus, in an obvious breach of the nation’s guidelines for contaminated individuals. Australian officers have stated they’re trying into whether or not Mr. Djokovic, who’s unvaccinated, poses a danger to public well being.

The tennis star’s feedback got here in a press release he launched on social media that he stated was supposed to “make clear misinformation” concerning the weeks earlier than he arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open. He was detained for days by Australian border officers earlier than being ordered launched on Monday by a federal decide.

However Mr. Djokovic’s assertion didn’t totally resolve a spread of questions which have swirled over his quest to stay in Australia and search a file twenty first Grand Slam title. Amongst them are precisely when he realized of the constructive check consequence and the way his journey paperwork got here to falsely assert that he had not traveled internationally within the 14 days earlier than his arrival in Australia.

The assertion posted on Instagram, which Mr. Djokovic stated could be his final remarks about his ordeal in Australia, was launched because the nation’s immigration minister stated he was nonetheless contemplating whether or not to train his private powers to cancel the participant’s visa once more. Immigration officers have been additionally investigating the discrepancies within the paperwork Mr. Djokovic introduced as he tried to enter Australia final week with an exemption from a requirement for Covid-19 vaccinations.

Australian tennis officers granted that exemption on the premise of what Mr. Djokovic had stated was a Covid an infection he had in mid-December. He had come below criticism over pictures on social media displaying him at occasions on the similar time he was supposedly contaminated with the coronavirus.

Mr. Djokovic stated on Wednesday that he had taken a P.C.R. check on Dec. 16 after some individuals at a basketball recreation he had attended two days earlier examined constructive for the coronavirus. Regardless of having no signs, he additionally took a speedy antigen check “out of an abundance of warning,” he stated, and it got here again unfavorable.

On Dec. 17, he stated, as he was awaiting his P.C.R. consequence, he attended a tennis occasion in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, the place he introduced awards to youngsters. He stated that he took one other speedy antigen check earlier than attending that occasion, which got here again unfavorable, and that his P.C.R. check didn’t come again constructive till after it had completed.

On Dec. 18, he went forward with an interview and a photograph shoot with the French sports activities newspaper L’Equipe “to meet a longstanding dedication,” he stated.

“I felt obliged to go forward and conduct the L’Equipe interview as I didn’t wish to let the journalist down, however did guarantee I socially distanced and wore a masks besides when my {photograph} was taken,” Mr. Djokovic stated.

“Whereas I went residence after the interview to isolate for the required interval, on reflection, this was an error of judgment and I settle for that I ought to have rescheduled this dedication,” he added.

It was not the primary time Mr. Djokovic has needed to apologize for dismissive actions he has taken in the course of the pandemic. In mid-2020, because the virus raged in Europe and elsewhere, he held a tennis event after which he and several other others examined constructive.

Whereas Mr. Djokovic stated in his assertion on Wednesday that he “had not acquired the notification of a constructive PCR consequence” till Dec. 17 — after the occasion involving youngsters — paperwork he supplied to Australian officers as he tried to enter the nation stated that the consequence had been returned the day earlier than.

A duplicate of his medical certificates for his constructive P.C.R. check stated that the check was taken at 1:05 p.m. on Dec. 16 and that the constructive consequence was returned at 8:19 on the identical day. In an affidavit supplied to an Australian court docket, he stated, “On 16 December 2021, I used to be examined and recognized with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID).” It was unclear when precisely he realized of his purported constructive check.

The Serbian prime minister, Ana Brnabic, stated this week that had Mr. Djokovic identified that he was constructive for the coronavirus earlier than attending the awards occasion on Dec. 17, he would have “clearly violated the principles” in Serbia.

However extra data was required, she added, saying, “I don’t know when he acquired the check consequence, when he learn it.”

When requested what would occur if Mr. Djokovic was discovered to have breached quarantine guidelines, she stated the Serbian authorities would “cope with it.”

In his assertion, Mr. Djokovic additionally addressed questions concerning the declaration he made on his visa paperwork that he had not traveled to another international locations within the 14 days earlier than arriving in Australia. The paperwork warns of great penalties for false solutions to the query.

His declaration had gave the impression to be contradicted by social media posts displaying him touring between Spain and Serbia. On Wednesday, he stated his agent had made an “administrative mistake in ticking the inaccurate field.”

“This was a human error and definitely not deliberate,” he stated, including that his group on Wednesday had “supplied extra data to the Australian authorities to make clear the matter.”

This implies it’s unlikely that the saga will probably be resolved rapidly, with the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, indicating that he wanted extra time to think about the brand new data earlier than deciding whether or not to cancel Mr. Djokovic’s visa once more.

A spokesman for Mr. Hawke stated that Mr. Djokovic’s legal professionals had made “prolonged additional submissions and supporting documentation stated to be related to the doable cancellation of Mr. Djokovic’s visa.”

“Naturally, this may have an effect on the timeframe for a choice,” he added.