Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic’s lawyers, held in a hotel upon arrival in Melbourne (Australia) for not having the necessary coronavirus vaccines to enter the country, They claim that the player received a medical exemption to play the Australian Open after contracting COVID-19 last December.
In court documents published this Saturday in the media, it is stated that the Balkan tennis player registered a positive test for COVID-19 on December 16 and that “he has not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours.”
But just one day later On December 17, Djokovic published on his Twitter the attendance to a ceremony (the signing of an agreement of your foundation with the Serbian National Postal Service), which accompanied with some images where you could see him collecting the award without a mask
An honor to receive my very own Serbian stamp. Thank you to my generous country for this rare gift! I’m humbled!! Excited to share we’ll partner with the Serbian National Postal Service on @novakfoundation projects for every child to have the opportunity to attend preschool ???????? pic.twitter.com/Ww8Zma95NU
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) December 17, 2021
Djokovic has been detained at an immigration center in Melbourne since Thursday morning after his visa was canceled after reviewing the medical exemption he had submitted to travel to Australia to participate in the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season.
According to his legal team, Djokovic received a letter from the medical director of the Australian Tennis Federation (Tennis Australia) recording that he had a medical exemption from vaccination against the coronavirus. His attorneys maintain that the medical exemption certificate was “provided by an Independent Expert Medical Review panel commissioned by Tennis Australia”, and that “the decision of that panel had been reviewed and endorsed by a Medical Exemptions Review Panel of the Government of the State of Victoria.”
In addition, they explained that he was granted an authorization to travel because the authorities told him that he met “the requirements to arrive in Australia without quarantine”. Now, Djokovic will have to wait for a hearing that will take place on Monday to find out whether or not he will be able to play the Australian Open.
Serbia says Djokovic deal damages bilateral ties
The president of the Serbian Parliament, Ivica Dacic, declared this Saturday that Serbia’s relations with Australia will suffer due to the way in which the authorities of that country are treating tennis player Novak Djokovic.
In addition, he accused Canberra of trying to “prevent” ATP top ranked Djokovic “from becoming the best tennis player in history.”
“That deal is shameful and needs to be made clear to Australia,” Dacic told Serbian public television station RTS.
He recalled that the 34-year-old Serbian tennis player traveled to Australia to play the Grand Slam after receiving a medical exemption from the Australian organizer of the tournament (January 17-30) and thus being able to play without being vaccinated against covid.
“The case is not special or specific, here it is about the politicization of the matter,” said the parliamentarian.
After ensuring that other tennis players entered Australia with the same exemption as Djokovic’s, he asked: “Why does someone behave that way?” with the world’s first racket.
“He is the number one tennis player, an international name and a legend, and such behavior is rare, shameful and shameless,” the Serbian politician insisted, and said that Djokovic is already the “winner” in this matter.
In this context, he accused the Australian authorities of not allowing the tennis player to play the tournament to “prevent (Djokovic) from becoming the best tennis player in history.”
If he won the Australian Open, where he triumphed nine times, Djokovic would break the world record with 21 Grand Slam titles.
The Serbian tennis player arrived in Melbourne last Wednesday but the border authorities revoked his visa and transferred him to a hotel destined to retain asylum seekers, which the tennis player’s family described as “dirty” and “terrible”.
There he awaits, deprived of his belongings except his mobile phone, predictably until Monday, the ruling of an Australian court on his appeal for the revocation of the visa.
Serbia has asked, so far to no avail, the Australian authorities to allow Djokovic to await the decision in a private home he had rented to stay in during the tournament.
According to the tennis player’s lawyers in a document quoted today by the Australian media, the medical exemption that the tennis player received is due to the fact that he was infected with SARS-CoV-2 last month.
“Mr. Djokovic had received, on December 30, 2021, a letter from Tennis Australia’s medical director recording that he had been provided with a ‘medical exemption from covid vaccination’ because he had recently recovered from covid,” they note. .
The lawyers added that “at that time 14 days had passed since the positive PCR test and that the tennis player” had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of covid-19 “in the previous 72 hours.
With 354 weeks at the top of the ATP ranking, Djokovic already holds a record. In addition, he finished the year as number one for the seventh time and is the winner of 37 titles of 1,000 Masters, which is also an unprecedented brand.
He is also the only tennis player who has won each Master at least twice.