Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says Novak Djokovic has not expressed to him any lingering ill-feeling about the deportation drama of three summers ago and insists his own relationship with him is strong.
Djokovic has twice revisited the controversy that overshadowed the 2022 Australian Open ahead of his quest for a record-breaking 25th grand slam, saying in separate media interviews that he felt traumatised when he returned to Melbourne because of his experience and claiming he was given food that “poisoned” him while in immigration detention.
Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has come under fire for his handling of the Novak Djokovic saga.Credit: Getty Images
Tiley came under immense pressure at the time of Djokovic’s detention and eventual deportation, after Tennis Australia and a board of medical experts connected with the Victorian government granted Djokovic an exemption to participate in the tournament on the basis that he had recently recovered from COVID.
The Tennis Australia boss argued to a federal advisory body that the Open’s viability depended on whether players who had not been double vaccinated would be allowed into the country to compete.
Asked about Djokovic’s comments on Saturday, Tiley told this masthead the former world No.1 had not raised the issue with him on this trip.
“I only found out today he actually said that a while ago, it was ages ago,” Tiley said in relation to Djokovic’s interview with GQ magazine.
“I mean, I’m around him a lot, and my view is that he’s moved on. He’s thinking about what he needs to do this week, what he needs to do tomorrow. He wants to win this event. Every conversation is absolutely focused on that. I honestly look at that [as] in the past and even myself personally, I don’t go back there,” Tiley added.
“I’m not interested in going back there, and I’m more interested in my role to deliver an awesome event the next two weeks.”
Tiley said his own relationship with Djokovic was strong.
“Absolutely,” he said. “He can say what he wants to say, but he knows that I’ve moved on, and we’ve moved on as an organisation, and I believe he has, too.”
Novak Djokovic stands by his hotel quarantine claims.Credit: AP
In the GQ interview, the 37-year-old said the decision to deport him had less to do with his vaccination status than the politics of allowing him to remain while parts of the country were in lockdown.
“It was so political. It had nothing really to do with vaccine or COVID or anything else. It’s just political. The politicians could not stand me being there. For them, I think, it was less damage to deport me than to keep me there,” he told the magazine.
“I’m not pro-vaccine. I’m not anti-vax. I am pro-freedom to choose what is right for you and your body. So when somebody takes away my right to choose what I should be taking for my body, I don’t think that’s correct.
“Because I don’t feel like I needed one. I just don’t feel like I needed one. I’m a healthy individual, I take care of my body, take care of my health needs, and I’m a professional athlete. And because I’m a professional athlete, I’m extremely mindful of what I consume, and I do regular tests, blood tests, any kind of tests. I know exactly what’s going on. So I didn’t feel a need to do that. Also, what is important to state is knowing that I’m not a threat to anybody. ’Cause I wasn’t, because I had antibodies.”
He also said: “I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me.
“I 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.”
Djokovic returned to Melbourne in 2023 to win his 10th Australian Open crown.
At his pre-tournament press conference on Friday he refused to elaborate. “I’ve done that interview many months ago. I would appreciate not talking more in detail about that, as I would like to focus on the tennis and why I’m here.”
Djokovic, the seventh seed, plays American Nishesh Basavareddy in the first round on Monday night.
Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Now and Stan from Sunday, January 12.
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