‘Not true’: The shock moment that left Djokovic reeling during six-hour interrogationStaff writers from Fox SportsJanuary 11th, 2022 8:14 am
Novak Djokovic
was victorious in his appeal against the cancellation of his visa on Monday and his Tullamarine Airport interrogation was seen as key to the judge coming to that decision.
Djokovic was interviewed seven times throughout the early hours of last Thursday morning by Border Force staff and it shows what he was told and the increasing confusion about how he even ended up in this situation.
Read the full transcript below...
INTERVIEW #1, TIME BEGUN 12.21AM, JANUARY 6INTERVIEWER: Thank you. So when I ask you what were your reasons for travelling to Australia today?
DJOKOVIC: I’m a professional tennis player and the main reason for me coming to Australia is participating in the Australian Open in Melbourne, Victoria.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Now question regarding your vaccination, are you vaccinated for COVID-19? Not vaccinated?
DJOKOVIC: I am not vaccinated.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Have you ever had COVID?
DJOKOVIC: Yes. I had COVID twice, I had COVID in June 2020 and I had COVID recently in – I was tested positive – PCR –16th of December 2021.
DJOKOVIC: I have the documents as well to confirm that if you want I can provide.
INTERVIEW #2, TIME BEGUN 12.35AM, JANUARY 6INTERVIEWER: So for the medical exemption which you received, did you provide some kind of documents?
DJOKOVIC: Yes, we did provide documents.
INTERVIEWER: So are you aware what sort of documents were provided?
DJOKOVIC: Well I have, I don’t have the documents printed out with me, but I have, I can try to find electronically, we did send an email to independent medical panel that was selected by the Federal Australian Government to review the requests medical exemption requests that we have sent.
INTERVIEWER: So it was selected by Federal Government?
DJOKOVIC: Yes. As it was brought to my attention there was two medical panels one was the Federal one and the other one was I think related to the Victorian state and Tennis Australia. And I might be wrong for the second one, I apologise if I am, but I know that there is a medical panel, Federal Government for sure, the second one I think it’s a mix between the Victorian Government and Tennis Australia, not 100 per cent sure but I can check.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah no that’s fine. So have you got some form of documentation
DJOKOVIC: Yes. This is the visa that has been granted. That’s the letter from Tennis Australia.
INTERVIEWER: OK, so this letter here, medical exemption pretty much talks about a review panel from, by Tennis Australia, it doesn’t talk about Federal Government? But you are sure definitely.
DJOKOVIC: Yes, the process was, yes, the process there was two indepen…two medical panels there was one that was related to the federal government for sure.
And I actually received the emails from them with permission. I have an email, actually my agent has the email, so I mean I can ask to electronically provide it to you via email if you want if you need that additional information, because they, they told me that this would be sufficient for the review.
INTERVIEWER: OK. Yeah no no that’s fine, so in case we need it, yeah definitely I’ll let you know but not, not at the moment. We should have these documents, in case we don’t have these documents, definitely we should have these documents
INTERVIEW #3, TIME BEGUN 12.46AM, JANUARY 6DJOKOVIC: Since I am participating in Tennis Australian, Australian Open that is run by Tennis Australia, my communication was directly to them because that’s what procedure that has been, that I have been introduced to, that they have informed me that this is the way to do it.
And so I have provided all my PCR, positive, negative tests, my antibodies to them and some additional information and then they have sent it to further to the Victorian independent medical panel, Victorian state government, independent medical panel.
And they have reviewed it with their own Tennis Australian medical panel and the Victorian state, so then, as a result of that I was granted to have, to access Australia with a medical exemption permission. That’s the whole story basically. And I am checking if there is anything else in regards to the government, federal government, but as I had understood from before, the Victorian state government needs to approve. So, they need to approve, it’s was basically not up to Federal Government when it comes to my granted access to Melbourne and to Victoria.
INTERVIEWER: That’s absolutely fine, but the thing is like you [inaudible] come to Australia and it is pretty much governed by federal government.
DJOKOVIC: Alright. OK so. No we did not get any emails from the federal government. This is what we got from the Australian Open player medical team, because they are the organisers of the event, so this is what we got.
INTERVIEW #4, TIME BEGUN 3.55AM, JANUARY 6INTERVIEWER: Now, Novak based on the information you have provided us... I am just going to issue you a notice of intention to consider cancellation of your visa. So I’m just going to read out all the information.
DJOKOVIC: I don’t understand, you’re cancelling my visa, or?
INTERVEWER: This is a notice of intention to consider cancellation under s 116 of the Migration Act 1958. So once I serve this notice to you. I will give you like, you know, 20 minutes - or whatever if you need more time you can request that - and you need to provide us reasons why we shouldn’t cancel the visa.
DJOKOVIC: I mean, I am really failing to understand what else do you want me to provide to you. I have provided all the documents that Tennis Australia and Victorian government has asked me to do in the last three/four weeks, this is what we have been doing.
My agent and I have been in a constant communication through my agent with Tennis Australia and Victorian state government, the medical panel. Whatever they asked us to do -- this is their set of rules that they have provided so they have allowed to have the medical exemption for the Covid vaccination. I applied, they approved, I just really don’t know what else do you want me to say.
What – I just – I have nothing else – I arrived here because of these documents otherwise I wouldn’t have been allowed to come in. I just really don’t understand what is the reason you don’t allow me to enter your country – just I mean, I have been waiting four hours and I still fail to, to understand what’s the main reason – like – lack of what papers? Lack of what information do you need? Or?
Serbian Novak Djokovic supporters gather outside the Rialto Tower where DjokovicÕs lawyers are. Picture: Josie HaydenSource: News Corp Australia
INTERVIEWER: I have to go through this process and then the explanation you have given me, I mean, you can give it to me after the timeframe which we give you. The 20 minutes we have to give you.
DJOKOVIC: So you’re giving me legally 20 minutes to try to provide additional information that I don’t have? At 4 o’clock in the morning? I mean you kind of put me in a very awkward position where at four in the morning I can’t call director of Tennis Australia, I can’t engage with anybody from the Victorian state government through Tennis Australia. I just you put me in a very uncomfortable position. I don’t know what else can I tell you. I mean everything that they, I was asked to do is here.
And I wouldn’t be here sitting in front of you if I if I wasn’t complying to all the rules and regulations set by your government. I mean to me it is a little bit shocking that you are going to give me the notice to cancel my visa based on what?
You’re giving me 20 minutes to do what? I tell you right away I have nothing else to tell you. If you can, we wait for eight in the morning and then I can call Tennis Australia and then we can try and figure this out. But right now?
They’re all sleepy, I don’t know. I mean I just arrived at 1am, I don’t know what else I can do at this moment. It just doesn’t make any sense. I mean I have done everything I possibly can. Right now I can call my agent. You told me not to use my phone, so I’m not communicating with anybody, no one knows what’s going on.
INTERVIEWER: Yep OK, so do you think this is not the right time to participate in the interview? And you would be participating in an interview at a later stage?
DJOKOVIC: I really need to understand from you because you’ve been giving me very vague answers, or literally no answers at all, for the last four hours. Now you are coming back with the consideration to cancel my visa the intention to consider to cancel, which I don’t really understand what it means.
INTERVIEW #5INTERVIEWER: Previous infection with COVID-19 is not considered a medical contraindication for COVID-19 vaccination in Australia.
DJOKOVIC: What I mean that’s sorry to interrupt but that’s not true. I mean this is what the independent medical panel of Victorian state government has stated explicitly that if you have recovered or if you had the positive test of coronavirus and negative test of coronavirus in the last six months and you have a sufficient amount of antibodies, you’re considered to be part of the process of getting a medical exemption. That’s how I got it.
I mean I communicated directly with the Victorian state government, that’s absolutely not true. We directly communicated with them and they asked me to, I actually had to come back with antibodies, so that’s what, this is, these are the tests that we provided to them. And we have emailed that test to, I provided it to you, you, you’ve read it, it’s directly from the Victorian state government independent medical panel.
INTERVIEWER: So I’ve just read out this intention notice of intention to consider cancellation under s 116 of the Migration Act 1958. I’m just going to sign it here. Sign it at 4.11. If you want to sign it?
DJOKOVIC: Well, I would not want to sign this document unless I have some answers to my questions.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, yes, that’s fine -- so um.
DJOKOVIC: I really don’t understand how come in your system you don’t have the information that if you have encountered Covid and been positive on Covid in the last six months and have the sufficient amount of antibodies and a negative test which I all provided, you are granted to access the country.
I am really confused - because this is what I have been getting from official Tennis Australia and Victorian government medical panels for the last three weeks and four weeks.
I don’t know really what to do at 4am. If you allow me to switch on my phone and make a call to my agent and try and get a hold of people from Tennis Australia. Cause it’s 4am, obviously everyone is sleeping but this is the only thing I can do right now, because I really don’t have anything else to provide to you in terms of the paperwork.
INTERVIEWER: So, and that’s what I have been trying to explain to you. Like, you know I mean it’s fine if that’s what they’ve said but coming to Australia, like it’s a federal thing. Federal government controls the ports.
That’s why I gave you opportunity to see if you can provide me any correspondence which was sent by Victorian tennis authorities to the federal government.
DJOKOVIC: But I can’t provide you that if I have no opportunity to speak with them? They provided to the independent panel -- independent medical panel of Victorian state government-- and then the Victorian state government has taken all the documentation from us, from the Tennis Australia, from them, and sent it to the federal government, and then the federal government said okay, fine, access granted, travel declaration, QR code, you are free to go.
And this is -- otherwise I wouldn’t be flying here. There’s absolutely no way I would put myself in a position to come and sit here with you and I - it would definitely -- I mean -- come to my attention, the attention of my agent or the team of people around me that the six months COVID regulation was not in place. It was absolutely in place. And I’m sure there is a way to check that, whether it is with the federal government, or Victorian government, whether it’s with Tennis Australia, whatever I can do to provide I will. Because I mean I made it all the way to Australia because you know they all made it very clear and certain to me that I have all the documentation that I possibly can provide to you.
INTERVIEWER: That’s fine, but I need to go through this process, and so, that’s fine if you don’t want to sign it, but I will still, I will make a photocopy of it, I will give it to you, so I’m just going to say you’re not going to sign.
DJOKOVIC: Okay so can you just explain to me whether you will allow me to acquire more information from through my phone with my agent?
INTERVIEWER: So not at this stage, once I finish off this or suspend this interview I will come back and I will let you know.
DJOKOVIC: Okay.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And then as I said, if you need more time, like you know if you think this is not the right time to participate in the interview because you are not able to get in touch with Victorian tennis or the Victorian government --
DJOKOVIC: Yes
INTERVIEWER: That’s fine, we are more than willing to give you, like you know, I’ll speak to my bosses.
[Djokovic was given access to his phone shortly after this]
INTERVIEW #6, TIME BEGUN 5.20AM, JANUARY 6INTERVIEWER: I have already served you with the notice of intention to consider cancellation and at the moment you need – what have you have advised me is that you need rest and up to 8/8.30. And that’s when you would be able to speak to your solicitor again and get some more information.
DJOKOVIC: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: So that’s absolutely fine, because I have spoken to my supervisors and they’re more than happy to - - -
DJOKOVIC: Okay great.
INTERVIEWER: for you to have rest. So any more questions?
DJOKOVIC: No more questions for now
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