Australia tightens siege on Djokovic investigating whether he lied in both covid test and visa
BarcelonaNovak Djokovic is still preparing for his Australian Open debut amid a media storm that has made him, for many, an unfashionable athlete for not wanting to be vaccinated, while others have. baptized as “the hero of the free world.” The Serbian’s decision not to get vaccinated, coupled with a string of mistakes by both the Serbian team and the organizers of the Australian Open, has raised so much dust that the debate is no longer just about sports, with politicians Populists defending the Serb while part of the Australian population wonders why he has been treated favorably when his country’s authorities are usually very strict on borders.
Djokovic on Wednesday admitted “human error” in his statement to enter Australia and to have granted an interview to a media outlet despite knowing he had covid. For its part, the Australian government continues to study his deportation. This Monday a judge announced that the Serb has the right to stay in Australia to play the first Grand Slam of the season, which starts next Monday, as the customs authorities at Melbourne Airport did not give him enough time to defend yourself by detecting errors in the visa. The last word when it comes to visas, however, is the Ministry of Immigration, which is still investigating errors in Djokovic’s statement to enter the country. In addition, the ministry has expanded its investigation into an alleged violation of covid isolation rules in Serbia, as well as inconsistencies in the dates of tests to detect coronavirus, according to newspapers. Sydney Morning Herald i The Age. In the midst of the health crisis caused by the arrival of Omicron in Australia, the Minister of Immigration, Alex Hawke, suspended the possibility of using his special powers to deport Djokovic for failure to comply with the requirements imposed on coronavirus to enter the country .
Djokovic, without being vaccinated, obtained permission to enter Australia because he was included in the category of medical exception, being able to prove that he had passed the covid in previous weeks. But the world number one, who in Australia is looking to win this tournament for the tenth time and become the first man to win 21 different Grand Slams, has been forced to admit that he took part in public events despite testing positive. “I was compelled to attend the interview with The team so as not to leave the journalist lying, but I kept my social distance by wearing a mask all the time, except during the photographs. When I got home, I isolated myself and thought about it, “said the 34-year-old Serb in a statement posted on social media.
“I made a mistake and I admit that I should have postponed the appointment,” he said, adding that the events in which he participated in those dates – a basketball game and the awarding of prizes to young Serbian players – , he made them still without knowing that he had given positive. “I was asymptomatic and I was fine. I didn’t receive positive PCR notification until after this event with the youngsters,” said Djokovic, who had already organized a good stir in 2020 when he tested positive for the first time. In the first wave of the pandemic, he organized a circuit of tennis exhibitions in the Balkans, which ended up provoking a lot of positives, including Djokovic himself. The tournament, which was scheduled to take place in different cities, could not be completed when, after the Belgrade match, with 5,000 people in the stands, players Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric, Viktor Troicki and Alexander Zverev also took part. they tested positive.
In the statement, the tennis player also admits that his agent inadvertently made a “human error” in filling in the box on the trips made by the athlete in the 14 days prior to arrival in the oceanic country and not declaring a trip between Spain and Serbia. The world number one was training at a facility in Sotogrande, Cádiz, according to social media, and traveled from Malaga to Australia, according to Serbian Olympic Committee Chairman Bozidar Maljkovic. Djokovic, who flew to Dubai on January 4, may have spent Christmas Day in Belgrade, according to some photos on social media.
A QR under suspicion
In addition to a possible contradiction in the statement on arrival in Melbourne, the Serb has also raised suspicions with the QR code of the report of his positive for covid. As they have published so much The mirror as the journalist of the New York Times Ben Rothenberg, when scanning it, the QR of the report at first led to a negative result, which in the last few hours has changed and only the positive result appears. The positive date according to this QR has changed, which suggests that the results may have been modified.
Djokovic’s future at the Australian Open, which runs from 17 to 30 January, is still pending as Minister Hawke has asked for more time to make a decision, after his lawyers provided new documents. in a case that explodes just as the country’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, is seeking re-election in this year’s election.