Andy Murray pleased that Novak Djokovic has been released - but says 'there are still questions to be answered'

ByHarry Latham Coyle

Updated 12/01/2022 at 09:12 GMT

Djokovic won a court battle to overturn the cancellation of his visa having been detained on arrival in Melbourne, but Australian border officials have opened an investigation into potential false declarations on his entry form. Murray believes that outstanding questions remain over the reasons given by the Serbian to receive a medical exemption as an unvaccinated player.

Andy Murray has said that there are still "questions that need to be answered" by Novak Djokovic ahead of the Australian Open, but that it is positive that the Serbian has been released from detention.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner was detained by officials on arrival in Melbourne after his visa for entry was withdrawn.

That decision was overturned in court on Monday, but Australian border officials have opened an investigation to determine if his travel entry form contained information that had been falsified.

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Djokovic claimed to have tested positive for Covid on December 16, but photos allegedly show him away from home and without a mask on each of the two days following that date.

He also asserted that he had not travelled in the fortnight prior to his flight to Australia, though social media posts appear to place Djokovic in both Spain and the Serbian capital Belgrade in that period.

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Murray thinks that greater clarity must be provided by Djokovic.

"It's positive that he's not in detention any more," said Murray. "He won in court, which is good.

"It looks like he's going to be able to play and compete in the Australian Open - we do want the best players there, but there are still a few questions to be answered.

"Until that happens, it is tough to give a definitive opinion on everything."

Players at the Australian Open have to be vaccinated or be given a medical exemption to compete.

Djokovic received the latter as an unvaccinated player on the basis of his recent positive test.

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However his place in the tournament remains in doubt as the Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke, mulls whether to again attempt to deport Djokovic as doubts grow over the validity of his travel documents.

Djokovic trained behind closed doors at the Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday, but a report from Der Spiegel has added yet more uncertainty to the nature of his positive test.

Analysis from the German newspaper of the timestamp on the digital version of the test indicates that the result was actually from 26 December.

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