Tennis champion Novak Djokovic talks his deportation from Australia and lack of vaccination for the first time.
Djokovic met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and described the events in Australia as “unexpected, to say the least.”
“I wanted to meet with you today because, primarily as a citizen of Serbia, I felt a great need to thank you for [the] great support that you, as the president of Serbia, gave me, as well as all state institutions during the unfortunate events in Australia,” Djokovic said.
“Although I was alone in detention, and faced with many problems and challenges, I wasn’t feeling lonely. I had huge support primarily from my family, all of the close people in my life, entire Serbian nation, many people with good intentions from the region and the world.”
Djokovic continued, “You stood up and stood behind me and put yourself in a compromised political position, within the framework of international relations, and that is why I am extremely grateful. I will remember that.”
After Djokovic’s arrival in Melbourne, he was deported ahead of the Australian Open due to a failed medical exemption to vaccination. This decision was made by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke after facing public backlash for initially allowing Novak into the country. Despite Aleksandar Vucic’s praise for Novak Djokovic ‘glorifying our country’ the Serbian president admitted to urging Djokovic to leave Australia when receiving a call from the tennis star about his detention.
The two continued to shower one another with praise, “And then I saw how persistent he is, how much he wanted to play, to fight on the sports field, to show on the sports field how much he is ready to fight not only for himself, but his country and show that he is better than others.”
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The star is also reportedly looking into getting vaccinated, “Maybe the final in Melbourne also contributed to that. Rafael Nadal’s 21 is driving him, no question.”
