The Lawyers of Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic have claimed that the World No.1 contracted Covid-19 virus and it was the reason he was able to get a Vaccine Exemption Visa.

The lawyers defending the serb stated this in the court filing that was submitted ahead of the player’s hearing on Monday.

The documents state that the 20-time Grand Slam champion had contracted the virus on December 16th and 14 days later he “had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of Covid-19 in the last 72 hours”.

The player who is in immigration detention in Australia because of invalid exemption pass had been given an exemption pass by two independent medical panels organized by Tennis Australia and Victoria state.

The news that Djokovic returned a positive result for the virus was known to no soul and was kept in secrecy until the player himself revealed it while talking about experience at the detention in the court filings.

“I explained that I had been recently infected with COVID in December 2021 and on this basis I was entitled to a medical exemption in accordance with Australian Government rules and guidance,” Djokovic said in the documents.

He told Australian Border Force officers: “I had correctly made my Australian Travel Declaration and otherwise satisfied all necessary requirements in order to lawfully enter Australia on my visa.”

Djokovic has won the Australian Open nine times and is eyeing another which will make him the only player to win 21 Grand Slam titles in the male category

In the meantime, the player is currently in an immigration detention centre ahead of a court case on Monday.

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