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Novak Djokovic still 'bitter' about worst moment of career that turned him into a villain Novak Djokovic was famously deported from Australia when trying to compete in the Aussie Open. Novak Djokovic has given a revealing insight into his deportation from Australia in 2022. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was famously deported from the country on the eve of the Australian Open after a 10-day ordeal that saw Djokovic stay in a detention hotel for part of his trip before he was ultimately ordered to leave. At the time, those entering Australia either needed the Covid vaccine or proof that they had contracted Covid in the last six months. Djokovic twice contracted the virus in the six-month period before travelling there, meaning he was able to enter the country. Before setting off, the former world No. 1 shared a photo on Instagram of himself in the airport and wrote: “Today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission.” In his new Prime Video documentary, Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter, the 10-time champion in Melbourne suggested that most people had the wrong idea about what happened. “I had a negative experience a few years back, and I still feel a slight bitterness that most of the people don’t understand what happened. 99 per cent of people don’t know what actually happened,” Djokovic said. “They think that I was deported from Australia because I was not vaccinated. That’s not true. In order to travel to Australia, you either had to be vaccinated, or if you were not vaccinated, you had to give evidence that you had corona [virus] in the previous six months. I was not vaccinated, but I had corona [virus] twice in those six months, so I was eligible.” Now, Djokovic believes his mistake was mentioning his eligibility – something his wife, Jelena, warned him about at the time. “So I’ve got the special exemption, I told my wife, I want to post that on my Instagram before I leave, and she said, ‘There is no reason to post that, you can just post that you are, you know, departing to Australia and you’re excited to go there, and that’s it’,” he continued. “So we wrote that caption, and then I added that last sentence, and so we were debating the night before. She said, ‘Don’t add that last sentence’. I said, ‘I need to add this last sentence’. Another reason why you should listen to your wife’s instinct.” Jelena, who has two children with Djokovic, explained: “He really insisted on saying out loud that he wasn’t vaccinated, which I just didn’t agree with it. I said, ‘Look, it’s your choice. Please, like, don’t elaborate on it because there are other people thinking differently’. And from the moment he posted on Instagram, the hell opened.” Reflecting the night he landed in Melbourne, the current world No. 5 added: “I arrive, passport control, I already see a couple of the officers coming from the immigration zone, looking at me. I’m starting to feel something is right. They ask me to come with them. I don’t get a stamp. I go into that immigration zone and I stay there from 11pm to 9am.” Djokovic was able to message Jelena before his phone was confiscated. “From that moment, I’m getting the message, like, ‘I’m at the airport, they are keeping me. Not sure what’s happening’. And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ Like, ‘They are taking away my phone, sorry’,” she recalled. “He said it out loud. If he did not say it out loud, he didn’t brag about it, probably that’s how they took it. They wanted everybody to comply. The moment you have one guy who is going against the current, that’s bad for everyone.” At the time, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa, and the Serbian superstar was unsuccessful in appealing this decision. While he understands why the government made an example of his case, the Olympic champion also claimed that others had entered the country with the same exemption and had a different experience. Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy “Australia was one of the countries that had the biggest lockdown. They didn’t want someone of a profile like myself, who is known in that country, and everyone knowing that I’m not vaccinated, coming in their country, playing a tournament, staying for a month or whatever, and then leaving, where people from Australia were not able to come back home, were not allowed. So yeah, to some extent, I do understand that they felt that pressure. But, you know, it was not my fault,” he explained. “So later on, I find out there is another two people, one was a player, one was a coach, that entered the country based on the same medical exemption. So it was all political, it had nothing to do medical, it has nothing to do with anything. It was just political.” As for why he never got vaccinated, Djokovic added: “Because I didn’t feel like I needed that. Why? Why should I get the vaccine? I’m healthy, I’m an athlete. I had corona [virus], I had protection, I’m not a threat to anybody. Why should I get vaccinated? It’s my freedom to choose, which that fundamental right that you have as a human being on this planet, freedom to choose, was taken away from a lot of people on this planet.” But the 24-time Grand Slam champion made it clear that he wasn’t firmly on either side of the debate. “I never said I am against vaccine or pro-vaccine. Even the anti-vax claimed that I’m their hero… I’ve never associated myself with any anti-vax, pro-vax, anything. I am pro freedom to choose what you are going to do with the integrity of your body,” he said. EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page