Tennis star Novak Djokovic admitted on Wednesday that he did not isolate immediately after testing positive for Covid-19 last month – but denied knowing he had the virus when he attended public events.
In a statement posted on social media, he also apologized for an apparently false travel statement, saying it was submitted on his behalf by a member of his support staff in “human error”.
Djokovic has been embroiled in controversy since he was detained in Australia last week over a visa and vaccination dispute.
He arrived in Melbourne last week and was promptly canceled from entering the country without a valid exemption from the country’s vaccination requirement for all arrivals – but won the legal battle on Monday, with a judge ruling that he could stay.
But questions have lingered over Djokovic’s behavior – particularly his positive Covid diagnosis last month before arriving in Melbourne, and the public events he attended at the time.
“I want to address the ongoing misinformation about my activities and attendance at events in December in the run-up to my positive PCR Covid test result,” he said in the statement.
“This is misinformation that needs to be corrected, particularly to address wider community concerns about my presence in Australia and to address matters that are deeply hurtful and disturbing to my family.
“I want to emphasize that I have tried very hard to ensure everyone’s safety and my compliance with testing obligations.”
Timeline testing: Djokovic said he attended a basketball game in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Dec. 14, where many people tested positive afterward. He showed no symptoms but was tested on December 16. On December 17, before receiving the official result of his test, he took a rapid test that was negative, and attended an awards ceremony for youth tennis – after which he received the official positive result, the statement said.
The next day, December 18, he did a media interview and photo shoot, saying he continued because “I didn’t want to let the journalist down.” He took social distancing and wore a mask except for the photo shoot, he added.
“While I went home after the interview to isolate the required period, on reflection this was an error of judgment and I accept that I should have resisted this commitment,” he said.
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