Serbia's Novak Djokovic, who has been seeded one, has been drawn to play against compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of the 2022 edition of the Australian Open despite ongoing uncertainty over his visa status.
"Top seed and nine-time #AusOpen champion @DjokerNole begins his title defence against Miomir Kecmanovic," Australian Open tweeted.
The defending champion will be eyeing for an unprecedented 10th title down under and a historic 21st Grand Slam title that will take him past Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the all-time tally.
Djokovic on Wednesday admitted that he conducted an in-person media interview and photoshoot in December despite knowing the fact that he was COVID-19 positive.
Djokovic who took the 'official and approved' PCR test on December 16 also revealed that he had not received the notification of a positive PCR test result until after attending a tennis event in Belgrade on Dec 17 where he presented awards to the children. On the aforementioned days, the Serbian also did a rapid antigen test, which both times tested negative.
After knowing the COVID positive result, Djokovic on December 18 at his tennis centre in Belgrade fulfilled a 'long-standing commitment' for a media interview and photoshoot for a French daily.
However, Djokovic has now conceded that giving an interview was an error of judgement and accepted that he should have rescheduled this commitment.
Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he did not want to comment on the world number one's visa status and that it was up to the immigration minister to decide whether to revoke it or not.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is weighing exercising his discretionary powers to revoke top seed Novak Djokovic's visa which could scuttle the superstar's hope for a record 21st major tennis title at the Melbourne Park.
With ANI Inputs
