‘I came in with valid papers. But everything got out of hand’: Djokovic recalls nightmarish deportation from Australia

A year after the nightmarish deportation from Australia, Novak Djokovic is back in the country to kick start his 2023 season and take part in the impending Australian Open. But the scars of the saga that unfolded last January still remains as the 21-time Grand Slam champion revealed the details of it recalling how had his papers right and was only looking to follow the rules. The Serb also blamed the media for blowing it out of proportion which left him helpless.

“A lot of people still have a wrong idea of what happened,” Djokovic told Channel Nine after he reached Melbourne following a title win in Adelaide International. He clarified that his only intention was to follow the rule before hinting that he was singled out by the authorities after a couple of other individuals, who were connected to Australian Open, had entered the country with the same exemption a few days back.

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“[There were] two or three more people that came into Australia 10 days before I did with exactly the same exemption that I had. I was just following the rules. My exemption was verified by an independent body and panel of doctors. I came in with all the valid papers. Everything got out of hand and then I was labelled this or that. And it [the saga] was so big in the media that I could not fight that, and I didn’t want to get into that. [With] the amount of pressure and craziness going around, I just wanted to go out and go back home,” he said.

Djokovic also talked about how the incident affected him for several months, leaving him thinking if it would affect his game as well. He admitted that it was difficult to move on from it with press continuing their barrage of questions on Australia in every event he played.

“I just stayed for several weeks at home, didn’t really go around too much, just hoped that the situation would calm down, which it did. But the ‘traces’ stay there, right?” he said. “The traces followed for several months after. And I didn’t know it was going to affect my game as well,” he said.

“Every press conference I was asked a question or two about Australia, about what happened,” Djokovic said. “So even if I [had] moved on the people reminded me of that. I just had to be patient and wait.”