PARIS
\nWorld number one Novak Djokovic said on Friday he would like to return to play in Australia again despite being deported from the country earlier this year due to not having a Covid-19 vaccination.
\nSerbian star says he doesn\u2019t \u2018hold any grudges\u2019 after being deported from country for being unvaccinated.
\nThe 20-time Grand Slam winner was unable to defend his Australian Open title in January after being deported amid a media frenzy after being initially admitted to the tournament despite not being vaccinated.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about whether my visa is going to be reinstated or whether I\u2019m going to be allowed to come back to Australia. I would like to. I would like to go there and play the Australian Open,\u201d he told a news conference. \u201cI don\u2019t hold any grudges. Look, you know, it was what it was. If I have an opportunity to go back to Australia and play a place where I made the biggest success in my career on Grand Slam, I would love to come back.\u201d
\nDjokovic, who is not vaccinated against Covid-19, was flown out of Australia after an 11-day ordeal at the discretion of the country\u2019s immigration minister over concerns the tennis great could fuel anti-vax sentiment. Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister at the time, has lost elections since and Australia\u2019s Labor Party leader, Anthony Albanese, was sworn in as the country\u2019s 31st prime minister earlier this month.
\nDjokovic had spent some days in an immigration detention centre in Melbourne and had met refugees who had been there for years. Some have since been released.
\n\u201cIf that\u2019s correct, then I\u2019m obviously very happy about it, because I know that it was very difficult for them, particularly for the ones that stayed there for nine years,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cYou know, I stayed there for a week, and I can\u2019t imagine how they felt for nine years. If I brought some light to that situation then, you know, in a positive way for them, for this to happen, then of course I\u2019m very happy.\u201d
\nThe debacle surrounding Djokovic deprived the 35-year-old of the chance to win a record-extending 10th Australian Open. He could have also claimed a record 21st Grand Slam title a feat his rival Rafa Nadal managed to achieve in Melbourne instead.
\nThe Serbian also expressed his shock and sadness at the imprisonment of his former coach Boris Becker, jailed in England for two years and six months in April for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after being declared bankrupt.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s terrible. I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d added Djokovic.
\n\u201cI mean, I\u2019m just very sad that someone I know so well, and of course someone that is a legend of our sport, is going through what he\u2019s going through. It breaks my heart to, you know, see him go through this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS World number one Novak Djokovic said on Friday he would like to return to play in Australia again despite being deported from the country earlier this year due to not having a Covid-19 vaccination. Serbian star says he doesn\u2019t \u2018hold any grudges\u2019 after being deported from country for being unvaccinated. The 20-time Grand Slam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[423,2563,2023],"class_list":{"0":"post-263285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-novak-djokovic","10":"tag-play"},"yoast_head":"\n