‘What I lived in Australia was humiliating’
This week has undoubtedly been very important for Serbian champion Novak Djokovic. The tennis player returned to the court after several months of absence and participated in the Dubai Championship. Surprisingly, the Balkan champion did not keep his favorite expectations and fell in the quarter-finals of the tournament against the Czech Vesely.
A loss has cost Knoll dearly since the tennis player lost first place in the standings after 86 consecutive weeks, and on Monday he will be officially overtaken by Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev. The Serbian experienced a special situation: many of the points he lost this season come from the 2022 Australian Open, a tournament in which the athlete was unable to defend the title of the current champion.
After initially receiving a medical exemption, Djokovic was rejected by the Australian government, which, after a legal dispute, expelled the tennis player from the country and thus from the tournament.
Novak Djokovic talks about what happened in Australia
The former first player has now spoken to the mics of Serbian portal SportKlub and discussed what he experienced in Australia.
Here are his sayings: “I cannot erase everything that has happened from my mind, there have been things that have had a great impact on me that I cannot forget, I have never experienced anything like this before.
But the only thing I can do is accept what happened and move on. I have never concealed my responsibilities and am open to dialogue, even at the BBC I answered many questions.
Some people think I thought of taking care of this situation with my country, but that’s not the case. For me, tennis is above politics, and I have not yet spoken out of respect for my teammates, but it has created a really bad image and has humiliated me all over the world.
I explained to the BBC and I’m doing it again now that there were a lot of people with an exemption who could participate, so why not me and I? They criticize me for not getting vaccinated, but that’s my decision and I’m aware of the consequences, whether it’s in Indian Wells or Wimbledon. I don’t put anyone in danger and I just want to make a decision about my life”
“Devoted bacon guru. Award-winning explorer. Internet junkie. Web lover.”
