Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic mounted his legal challenge on Saturday (Jan 8) to being refused entry to Australia, saying he had immigration clearance to enter the country after contracting and recovering from COVID-19 last month.

The exemption was granted to Djokovic 14 days after he tested positive because he “had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours,” the documents filed on Saturday state.

On his third day in immigration detention in Melbourne, the Serbian superstar’s court filing confirms widespread speculation he had caught the coronavirus. It escalates a furor over Australia’s handling of a medical exemption from the country’s vaccination rules that has rocked world tennis.

The Serbian player, hoping to win his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open later this month, is on his third day in immigration detention in Melbourne – a case that has caused a sporting, political and diplomatic furor.

A vocal opponent of vaccine mandates, Djokovic has been confined since Thursday in a modest hotel after his visa was canceled due to problems with the medical exemption from the country’s immigration requirement for coronavirus vaccination that he presented.

The drama has caused tensions between Serbia and Australia and has also become a flashpoint for opponents of vaccine mandates around the world.

“I explained that I had been recently infected with COVID in December 2021 and on this basis I was entitled to a medical exemption following Australian Government rules and guidance,” Djokovic said in the filing about his experience being detained at Melbourne Airport.

Djokovic said he told Australian Border Force officers that “I had correctly made my Australian Travel Declaration and otherwise satisfied all necessary requirements in order to lawfully enter Australia on my visa”.

Djokovic returned his first positive COVID-19 test on Dec 16 but by Dec 30 “had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours”, the filing said.

On Jan 1, it said, he received a document from Home Affairs telling him his responses indicated he met “the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia”.

The federal court has ordered Home Affairs to file its response by Sunday. The Border Force, a unit of Home Affairs, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Saturday.

The Australian Open starts on Jan 17.

Many countries allow a recent COVID-19 infection as a reason for an exemption from vaccine requirements, but Australia’s federal government released a letter soon after Djokovic arrived showing that it had notified Tennis Australia that was not necessarily the case in the country.

The federal and Victorian state governments and Tennis Australia have denied responsibility for the dispute.