Novak Djokovic was \u201cpoisoned\u201d by the food he ingested while detained during his 2022 Australian Open visa saga, the former world number one told GQ in an interview released on Thursday.
\nThe Serbian 24-times major winner had his visa cancelled ahead of the tournament following days of drama over Australia\u2019s COVID-19 entry rules and his unvaccinated status, and was detained in a Melbourne hotel shared with asylum-seekers.
\n\u201cI realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,\u201d said Djokovic, who is known to monitor his diet strictly.
\n\u201cI had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I was, I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.\u201d
\nGQ said Australia\u2019s Department of Home Affairs had declined to comment on the matter, citing privacy reasons.
\nDjokovic told Melbourne\u2019s Herald Sun newspaper this week that he still has trauma from his experiences three years ago and feels stress arriving at the city\u2019s airport.
\nThe 37-year-old begins his campaign for a record-extending 25th major title at the Australian Open next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Novak Djokovic was \u201cpoisoned\u201d by the food he ingested while detained during his 2022 Australian Open visa saga, the former world number one told GQ in an interview released on Thursday. The Serbian 24-times major winner had his visa cancelled ahead of the tournament following days of drama over Australia\u2019s COVID-19 entry rules and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-454692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n