Video of Novak Djokovic at event on 16 December

Novak Djokovic's lawyers filed court papers Saturday in his challenge against deportation from Australia that show the tennis star tested positive for COVID-19 last month and recovered, grounds he used in applying for a medical exemption to the country's strict vaccination rules.

Djokovic was filmed on the same day as stated in the exemption certification, 16 December 2021, touring the Belgrade headquarters of the Serbian national post office, which was honouring him and his career with the release of a series of stamps.

The exemption certification said the date of the 34-year-old Serb's first positive test was 16 December, "and that he had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms in the past 72 hours." Ahead of the Australian Open, Djokovic has been confined to an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne, where he's been preparing for the legal challenge against his visa cancellation in the Federal Circuit Court on Monday.