Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Djokovic pictured maskless at public event one day after positive Covid test

Djokovic pictured maskless at public event one day after positive Covid test

Novak Djokovic faced fresh controversy over his attempt to enter Australia after pictures emerged on social media of his appearances at public events after a positive Covid test was recorded in mid-December

Novak Djokovic faced fresh controversy over his attempt to enter Australia to take part in the Open tennis tournament after pictures emerged on social media of his appearances at public events after a positive Covid test was recorded in mid-December, which allowed him an exemption from the country’s strict Covid rules.

Djokovic has spoken against vaccine mandates but has always refused to say what his own vaccination status is.

He has been kept in a Melbourne hotel since Thursday after his visa was cancelled due to problems with the medical exemption from vaccination granted by the organisers of the Australian Open.

Djokovic faces decision day on Monday as his appeal against the cancellation of his visa gets under way, after which he could be deported from the country.

According to court documents released on Saturday ahead of the hearing, Djokovic’s Covid-19 infection was recorded by the Institute of Public Health of Serbia on 16 December, which provided the basis for the medical exemption he received from the Tennis Australia and Victorian state government medical panels. He was granted his exemption on 30 December.

However, pictures on social media of Djokovic attending indoor events without a mask shortly after his Covid-19 test was recorded raise questions about Djokovic’s infection.

On 16 December, Djokovic attended an event commemorating his own personal stamp. Pictures were posted of Djokovic a day later at the Tennis Association of Belgrade for an award ceremony.

Djokovic was additionally pictured on the streets of Belgrade on 25 December despite Serbia’s rules requiring 14 days of self-isolation.

It is not clear if he knew he had Covid when the earlier pictures were taken.

Djokovic had attended a Euroleague basketball match between Red Star and Barcelona in Belgrade in the days before, during which numerous people present tested positive for Covid-19.

Djokovic’s PR team have told Serbian journalists that they will not be making any statements until after his case.

Since his visa was revoked in the early hours of Thursday morning and he was ordered to leave Australia, Djokovic has been detained in the Park hotel – an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne – as he awaits his hearing.


The federal government control the Australian borders and the border force decided that Djokovic had not satisfied entry requirements.

In his submission to the federal circuit court, Djokovic says he was granted a temporary visa to enter Australia on 18 November, and received a letter from the chief medical officer of Tennis Australia on 30 December recording he had a “medical exemption from Covid vaccination” on the grounds he had recently recovered from the virus.

On New Year’s Day, Djokovic had also received a document from the home affairs department about his Australian travel declaration, which told Djokovic “[his] Australia travel declaration [had] been assessed” and that “[his] responses indicated that [he met] the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia where permitted by the jurisdiction of your arrival”.

Djokovic claims that he was denied access to his legal team during parts of the eight hours of interviews he endured upon his arrival at Melbourne Airport on Wednesday night.

L’Equipe, the French sports newspaper, reported on Saturday that Djokovic gave a long interview to one of its writers on 18 December, for its Champion of Champions award, two days after his positive Covid-19 test. Djokovic was masked during the interview but then unmasked during the photoshoot.

Meanwhile, Renata Voracova, the Czech doubles specialist who had initially passed Australia’s border checks with the same medical exemption as Djokovic, has been deported from the country following her own subsequent detention.

Voracova was pictured leaving the Park hotel on Saturday afternoon and in an interview with Czech publication iDNES.cz she explained that she had planned to vaccinate herself in the off-season before catching Covid-19.

Voracova had competed in one tournament in Melbourne before she was detained and then she chose to voluntarily leave the country.

“Apparently the Australian Tennis Association has misled us, which is annoying. I wanted to focus on tennis, not visas, quarantine. It’s really weird that I spent a week here, played a match … and then they came for me,” she said.

The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, on Sunday said the investigation of Australian Open visas had been finalised and Voracova and one official had left the country.

“My advice from border force is their assessment of any visas relating to the Australian Open has now been completed and two other individuals have now voluntarily left the country,” Hunt told reporters.

Earlier on Saturday, a leaked video obtained and published by News Corp showed Craig Tiley, the Tennis Australia boss, sending a video to his staff explaining his silence since Djokovic’s detention and commending their work.

“We’ve chosen at this point not to be very public with it … simply because there is a pending lawsuit related to entry into Australia. Once that has run its course, we’ll be able to share more with you,” Tiley said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×