Djokovic released the statement on his twitter account where he admitted his “support team” made a mistake in filling out the “incorrect box”.
In the statement Djokovic responded to suggestions that he may have lied on his border entry forms by ticking a box saying he had not travelled, and was not planning to travel, in the 14 days prior to his Australian flight.
However, Djokovic’s version of his recent travels has been thrown into doubt by social media posts and other reports suggesting he jetted from Belgrade to Spain with the 14-day window.
“On the issue of my travel declaration, this was submitted by my support team on my behalf – as I told immigration officials on my arrival – and my agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box about my previous travel before coming to Australia.”
Djokovic went on to say the mistake was a “human error” as a result of “living in challenging times in a global pandemic”.
According to the statement Djokovic’s team has provided additional information to the Australian Government to “clarify this matter”.
Worryingly for the Serbian, the Home Affairs Department warns that giving “giving false or misleading information” on the border entry form “is a serious offence” carrying a possible stint in jail.
“If convicted, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 12 months,” it says.
Basketball games and events for children
Djokovic also addressed media reports that he attended several events in Belgrade – including one with children - after testing positive for COVID-19.
“I attended a basketball game in Belgrade on 14 December after which it was reported that a number of people tested positive with COVID-19.
“Despite having no COVID symptoms, I took a rapid antigen test on 16 December which was negative, and out of an abundance of caution, also took an official and approved PCR test on that same day”.
“The next day I attended a tennis event in Belgrade to present awards to children and took a rapid antigen test before going to the event, and it was negative.
“I was asymptomatic and felt good, and I had not received the notification of a positive PCR test result until after that event," the statement says.
Djokovic said he then attended a L’Equipe interview and photoshoot the next day – December 18- because he did not want to let “the journalist down”.
“While I went home after the interview to isolate for the required period, on reflection, this was an error of judgement and I accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment."
COVID-19 test results manipulation
However, the statement does not address a new investigation by German news site Der Spiegel which suggests Djokovic's COVID-19 test results may have been manipulated.
Djokovic sought a medical exemption to enter Australia unvaccinated on the basis that he had already tested positive for COVID-19.
Documents provided by Djokovic’s lawyers at his court hearing on Monday revealed the tennis player took a PCR test at 1.05pm on December 16 – returning a positive result seven hours later.
However, Der Spiegel's investigation reveals the digital timestamps on Djokovic’s test result, accessed via Serbia’s public central test registry, show the test was from 2.21pm on December 26 - ten days after the supposed test date.
“Such timestamps are normally produced automatically by corona test systems, marking when individual tests are entered into the relevant database,” the newspaper claims.
“That usually happens just a few minutes after the test result becomes available.”
Djokovic’s lawyers also provided a second negative test result to the court.
“That test was apparently meant to prove that Djokovic had since recovered from his Covid-19 illness,” Der Spiegel writes.
“According to the documentation presented, it is from the afternoon of December 22 – and the timing of that test is confirmed by the digital timestamp.”
One explanation for the discrepancies could be that timestamps are generated when the person downloads the results from the server.
Other important details throw this explanation into question.
Under the Serbian testing system a consecutive identification number is assigned to each test – Djokovic’s positive test, allegedly from December 16, is numbered 7371999.
However, his number from the December 22 negative test is 50,000 spots lower, and according to Serbian health data exactly 50,000 tests were performed between December 22 and 26.
IT experts from digital security group Zerforschung – who worked on the investigation with Der Spiegel – said this suggests the negative test was performed prior to the positive test and entered into the database – not the other way around.
“Based on these pieces of evidence, the most plausible explanation is that the positive test result was added to the official Serbian database on the 26th of December, and not on the 16th,” Zerforschung said.
The German news site also reports that “things got strange” when it scanned the QR code linked to Djokovic’s positive December 16 test.
“At 1.19pm on Monday (CET), the result from the scan was ‘Test result Negative’
“Such a result would have destroyed Djokovic’s case for being allowed into the country. About an hour later, though, at 2.33pm on Monday, a second scan of the QR code returned a different result: ‘Test result Positive.’”
The new information comes as the under siege tennis player released a media statement on Wednesday afternoon.