Tennis legend Novak Djokovic claimed this week that he was “poisoned” amid his deportation saga in Australia during the Covid pandemic.
Djokovic arrived in Melbourne in January 2022 to compete in the Australian Open but was stopped at the airport and held in hotel detention after he failed to produce evidence he had been vaccinated or had been issued a valid medical exemption, a requirement for anyone entering Australia at the time.
He was eventually deported after losing a legal fight to stay in the country.
In an interview with GQ published this week, the 24-time Grand Slam champion said he “had some health issues” once he returned to his native Serbia and underwent toxicology tests to find the cause after his five-day detention in the Park Hotel in central Melbourne.
“And I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,” he said.
“I never told this to anybody publicly, but … I had a really high level of heavy metal,” he added. “I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.”
Asked if he thought it was the meals he was fed in hotel detention that made him sick, Djokovic replied, “That’s the only way.”
The Serbian player’s health regimen reportedly includes a strict gluten and dairy-free diet, morning yoga — and healing water from the so-called Bosnian pyramids, a pseudo-archaeological site in central Bosnia and Herzegovina that Djokovic has touted as “miraculous.”
The Australian Border Force has not responded to the former world No. 1’s comments. “For privacy reasons, we cannot comment on individual cases,” the Department of Home Affairs told BBC Sport.
Djokovic, who is currently in Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open, said earlier this week he still deals with “a bit of trauma” from being kicked out of the country.
Djokovic’s ordeal sparked a diplomatic row between Australia and Serbia, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić blasting Australia for “harassing” Djokovic and offending “an entire nation.”
A year after his deportation, Djokovic returned to the country in 2023 to win the Australian Open for the 10th time, which he celebrated as “the biggest victory in my life.”
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