Novak Djokovic's family cut short a media conference when asked if he knowingly attended an award show with COVID — then burst into song

• Novak Djokovic's family held an odd press conference which they cut short after an awkward question.
• It ended when a reporter asked if Djokovic attended an event on December 17 knowing he had COVID.

Novak Djokovic's family abruptly ended a press conference on Monday when asked whether the Serbian tennis star knowingly attended a public event after testing positive for COVID-19 last month.

Court filings released on Saturday said that the Serbian tennis star had tested positive for coronavirus on December 16.

On December 17, within 24 hours of his positive test result, he then attended an awards ceremony for young tennis players at the Novak Tennis Center in Belgrade, Serbia, where he was photographed with several attendees while not wearing a mask.

Soon after his release from immigration detention Monday, Djokovic's family — his mother Dijana, father Srdjan, uncle Goran, and brother Djordje — spoke to the press in Serbia.

Appearing at a table alongside dozens of Djokovic's trophies, and a bust of his head, the family spoke for around 40 minutes about Novak's situation in Australia.

During the conference Djordje was asked by a reporter: "Is it true that on the 16th December [Novak] did test positive and knew he was positive for COVID?"

Djordje replied: "Yes, the process was public and all the documents that are public are legal, so."

He was then asked by another reporter: "Was he at an event on the 17th in Belgrade?"

After a brief murmured exchange with his parents, Djordje responded by saying: "OK, so this press conference is adjourned, at the moment."

After abruptly ending the press conference, the Djokovic family linked arms and began to sing a Serbian folk song, before leaving.

—James Gray (@jamesgraysport) January 10, 2022

Earlier in the same press conference, Djokovic's mom claimed that her son had been subjected to "torture" during his time in Australia, although gave no details of what she meant.

Dijana last week complained about the conditions at Djokovic's detention facility, where guests had previously been served moldy and maggot-riddled food.

You can see complete footage of the press conference below:

The court documents detailing Djokovic's positive COVID-19 test on December 16 test were released as part of his legal fight against his proposed deportation from Australia.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion travelled to Melbourne on Thursday under the impression that he had been given a medical exemption that would allow him to compete in this month's Australian Open without a COVID vaccine.

However after scrutiny of his vaccine exemption by the Australian Border Force, his visa was revoked and he was immediately taken to an immigration detention facility in the city center.

He was held there until Monday when he was then released after an Australian judge ruled that the cancellation of his visa was "unreasonable."

Djokovic had been set to appear at the press conference on Monday with his family via video link, however did not show.

Instead, he tweeted to say that he was delighted with the decision and that he was now looking forward to defending his Australian Open title.

"I'm pleased and grateful that the Judge overturned my visa cancellation," he wrote alongside a photo of him and his team at Melbourne Park, where the Open starts on January 17.

"Despite all that has happened, I want to stay and try to compete Australian Open I remain focused on that.

"I flew here to play at one of the most important events we have in front of the amazing fans."

—Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 10, 2022

He added in a second tweet: "For now I cannot say more but THANK YOU all for standing with me through all this and encouraging me to stay strong."