The Crisis Committee managing the pandemic in Serbia has refuted Novak Djokovic's claims that he did not know he was coronavirus positive until the night of December 17.
At the commission's health department press conference, doctor Zoran Gojkovic said that the results of the molecular test are sent to the email as soon as they are issued and registered.
Asked by a reporter to comment on Djokovic's statement that he was informed of the test result the next day, Gojkovic replied, "Djokovic himself will have to answer that, I cannot know when he opened his email. What I can assure you is that the certificate confirming that Novak Djokovic tested positive for the Sars Cov-2 virus is authentic and was sent to him at the time indicated, i.e. on the same day, in the evening hours."
Meanwhile, it is now clear from the Serbian Health Ministry that Novak Djokovic's PCR test is authentic.
"After the document appeared on social networks, we analysed the document and the document is absolutely valid," said Zoran Gojkovic, who is an official at the Serbian Health Ministry. On the issue of violation of quarantine rules, he noted that there is no legal punishment.
He then stressed about Nole's choice not to be vaccinated: "If he did, it would certainly motivate many others to get vaccinated. But I'm also for freedom of choice, even though I personally disagree with that choice. No country in the world has yet to impose compulsory vaccination."
We recall that Novak Djokovic, while testing positive for coronavirus, had appeared at an event with children in Serbia and admitted to meeting, while positive, with the L Equipe journalist to receive his award and to be interviewed.
In the home stretch
Meanwhile, the saga of Novak Djokovic's participation in the Australian Open and his stay in Australia seems to be heading towards its conclusion.
On Friday (14/1), Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who has Greek roots, announced his decision to cancel Novak Djokovic's visa, which would have led to him leaving the country.
He cited public health reasons and the public interest. A short time later Novak Djokovic, through his legal team in Melbourne, decided to challenge the decision through the courts.
Lawyers for the top tennis player complained that the minister's decision was deliberately delayed and they were not given time to be informed and react as they would have liked.
The case ends up in court and the judge in charge will be Anthony Kelly, who ruled in favour of the Serb in his first confrontation with the authorities upon entering Australia.
Djokovic's lawyers tried to convince the judge again and continued to press the medical exemption his client received from Tennis Australia to travel to Australia.
They also asked for a decision by Sunday (16/1) as their client has his Australian Open premiere on Monday, if of course there is a twist in the case.
The court ruled that Novak Djokovic will be back in custody at an immigration detention facility in Melbourne from noon on Saturday after he has two important meetings.
The Serbian tennis player is due at 08:00 (Australian time; 23:00 local time, Friday) to visit the immigration office to explain himself. He will then meet with his lawyers, under the supervision of Australian Border Force officers, and then he will be taken into custody.
He will remain in custody at the accommodation facility until Sunday morning (09:00 Australian time; 00:00 Greek time, Saturday) when he will be able to go to his lawyers' office. From there he will attend the new trial, which will take place in the High Federal Court of Australia with a different judge.
Until then, Minister Alex Hawke will not be able to take any further action on Nole's case. The Australian Open starts on Monday and Novak Djokovic does not have much leeway.
The decision to cancel his visa is unlikely to be overturned and so he will not have the right to defend the title he won in Melbourne in 2021.
His premiere set for Monday (17/1) is not changing and unless the story is finished he will not be able to participate in the Grand Slam. But at the same time Novak Djokovic if he is deported is likely to be banned from entering Australia for the next three years.
For the 34-year-old tennis player this will mean the end of his Australian Open for good. By Monday we will know if Nole will play in Australia this year. His next moves in case of deportation and a ban on entry for the next few years will be known after the decisions are made.
Novak Djokovic if he does not play in the Australian Open, he will "drop" from world No. 1 if Danil Medvedev and even Alexander Zverev win the trophy, and he will also lose a lot of money since he is the king of the tournament and will always be the No. 1 favorite.
However, there is still no reaction from his sponsors about the whole thing and they are scanning his every statement. Novak Djokovic does not want to be seen as a leader of the anti-vaccine movement as this will cause problems of a financial nature as well.
Reactions from top tennis players
Top Belgian tennis player, Justine Enan, called on Novak Djokovic not to play in the Australian Open as he has the world against him in Australia.[BR]"I think he's the best thing he's not playing right now. It's a very complicated thing. I'm not arguing that Djokovic doesn't have to fight for what he thinks is right but he has to see that the Australians don't want him. Not playing in the tournament might be better for everyone, for tennis, for the tournament and maybe for him," the former world No1 will note.
The German, Boris Becker, who was Novak's coach, after stressing that Djokovic would regret this story in ten years' time and after accusing Nole's father of getting away with it, spoke to the BBC after the latest developments.
"No tennis player is bigger than a tournament. We need to focus on the action on the court, not what happens on the court. It's a political game he got involved in and that's unfortunate," the former Wimbledon winner noted.
Asked if the Serb is interested in the public's opinion, he said: "I think he cares, who doesn't want to be loved? He knows they respect him, but on the other hand they don't love him as much as Federer and Nadal. He's a street fighter. That's the mentality that made him great and so successful. This is hard to change."
A message of support for Novak Djokovic via Twitter was sent by Ilya Marchenko, a top tennis player in Ukraine. "They say rules are rules, but they lose on their own court. Then they found a way to cancel the visa anyway. So what were the rules in the beginning? Oh, I forgot. There's an election coming up. Power, Djokovic," he will write.
Furious with the Australians is Djokovic's former coach, Nikola Pilic, who sees political games behind the decision to cancel the visa: "It's a shame, Novak doesn't deserve it."
Nole's friend and former world No. 1 tennis player Andy Murray said of the case after his qualification for the Sydney final: "I'm not going to sit here and start kicking Novak while he's down. It's sad that he's ended up in a situation like this, and who knows? I don't know what's going to happen from here. I don't know what the process is that needs to be followed, if he can appeal this and how long it takes, if he can still train.
I obviously want the whole situation to be resolved. I think it would be good for everybody if that happened. It just seems like it's gone on too long now and it's not good for tennis, not good for the Australian Open, not good for Novak."
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