Melbourne, Australia – Novak Djokovic has refused to elaborate further on his recent claim that he was “poisoned” during his controversial deportation saga in Australia ahead of the 2022 Australian Open.
In an interview with GQ magazine, the Serbian tennis legend had revealed that he suffered from elevated levels of lead and mercury in his blood, which he believes was caused by food he consumed during his detention in Melbourne. However, when questioned about this claim during a press conference at the 2023 Australian Open, Djokovic made it clear that he no longer wishes to discuss the matter in detail.
“The GQ article came out online yesterday. I think it’s a February issue, so it’s coming out in print version,” Djokovic said. “I’ve done that interview many months ago. I would appreciate not talking more in detail about that, as I would like to focus on the tennis and why I’m here. If you want to see what I’ve said and get more info on that, you can always refer to the article.”
Djokovic then proceeded to walk out of the press conference without taking any further questions.
In the GQ interview, Djokovic had stated, “I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me. I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I was, I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.” When pressed about whether he believed the substances entered his system through the food in Melbourne, Djokovic was firm in his response: “That’s the only way.”
The Serbian tennis star also discussed the political nature of his deportation from Australia, emphasizing that the situation was more about politics than any health or vaccine concerns. “The politicians could not stand me being there. For them, I think, it was less damage to deport me than to keep me there,” he explained. “It was so political. It had nothing really to do with vaccine or Covid-19 or anything else. It’s just political.”
Despite the controversy surrounding his deportation, Djokovic has received support from fellow tennis stars, including Nick Kyrgios, who commented, “We treated him like s***, that’s for sure. We shouldn’t have done that.”
For now, Djokovic has made it clear that his focus is firmly on his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, and he would prefer to leave the past behind.
