Djokovic admits error of judgement
NOVAK Djokovic yesterday admitted “errors” in his travel papers and for not isolating after a claimed Covid19 infection, as he battled to stay in Australia and fight for a record 21st Grand Slam.
The world number one tennis player said his team had offered fresh information to the Australian government, which was 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 practised on the courts of the Australian Open, which starts on 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 centre.
But the vaccine-sceptic 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 cancelling the visa another time, as fresh doubts emerge.
His spokesperson acknowledged receiving “lengthy further submissions” from the player’s lawyers.
“Naturally, this will affect the time frame 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, Djokovic appeared at a ceremony to honour him with stamps bearing his image. The next day he attended a youth tennis event. He appeared at both events apparently without a mask.
Djokovic 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.
In another twist, Australian media yesterday seized on reporting by Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper that cast doubt over the star’s positive test. Der Spiegel 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 yesterday. Djokovic’s Instagram post appeared to be aimed at swaying the government to let him stay in Australia. Leading immigration lawyer Christopher Levingston said the government could cancel Djokovic’s visa on narrow criminal grounds, for example, because the travel declaration was incorrectly completed.
But the immigration minister may also annul the visa on broader character grounds.
If Djokovic knowingly dodged Serbia’s quarantine requirement for positive cases, he could be judged to be a risk for potentially not complying with public health orders while in Australia, Levingston said.
Various options to appeal would be open for Djokovic and the government, but at the end of the day the immigration minister can exercise his personal power to cancel the visa.
Many Australians, who have endured nearly two years of travel bans, restrictions and rolling lockdowns, were angered when they learnt of Djokovic’s vaccine exemption. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government, which faces a general election by May, has also been criticised over its handling of the affair. Djokovic’s visa ban was overturned only after the government conceded it had acted unreasonably by not giving him the promised time to put forward his case at the airport.
For four nights, Melbourne’s infamous “alternative place of detention” for migrants became his abode. Dozens of journalists and scores of fans, anti-vaccination mandate protesters and migrant rights activists rallied outside daily. Among the demonstrators were at least 20 activists trying to highlight the situation of people caught up in Australia’s strict migration system.
But the 34-year-old ace reportedly was not seen by his fellow residents – about 32 people held under Australia’s stringent immigration policy, some of them for years.
On Djokovic’s first day in detention, activist Kim Matousek pointedly remarked on the interest being shown in the ace’s brief stay. “As for our friends, they’ve been in detention for what was it 3 099 days now.”
The food served in the facility was of poor quality, she said. “The coleslaw smells like alcohol because it’s rotten, they won’t eat it.”
The facility, formerly the Park Hotel, gained notoriety last December when a fire broke out in the building. One person was hospitalised for smoke inhalation. There were no fatalities.
A week later, asylum seekers posted images on social media of food that they said they were served, which contained maggots and mouldy bread.
Refugee Action Collective spokesman David Glanz said Djokovic’s detention shone a light on the centre.
“We fear that long after Djokovic is back on the lucrative global tennis circuit, those men will still be in detention – many in their ninth year of being held by the Australian government,” he said.