Novak Djokovic blames the media for his «incorrect coverage» of Australia’s infamous visa debacle as he insists he arrived in the country with «all valid papers». In December 2021, Djokovic applied for a special medical exemption and it was granted.
But when Djokovic landed in Australia, he was detained and had his visa canceled twice before eventually being deported from the country. «I was really caught up in a media storm around the world that was related to anything to do with COVID and the vaccine.
All of a sudden, I became the villain of the world, which is obviously a terrible position to be in as an athlete,» Djokovic told 9News Melbourne.
Djokovic: I had all the papers in order
While Djokovic waited to see what his Australian fate would be, there were quite a few Australians who wanted him deported.
Some of those who loved Djokovic claimed that allowing the Serb to play would have indicated that he had rights and different treatment from regular Melbourne citizens. Now, Djokovic says that he definitely did not come to Australia trying to break the rules or anything like that.
“I understood why they were frustrated, but I have to say that the media presented it in a completely wrong way because that’s not what happened, and a lot of people still have the wrong idea of what happened. There were two or three other people who arrived in Australia 10 days before me on the exact same exemption that I had and I was just following the rules.
My waiver was verified by an independent body and a panel of doctors, so it was not known who was making the request, and I arrived with all the valid papers. It all got out of hand and then I was labeled as this or that.
It was so big in the media that I just couldn’t fight it, I didn’t even want to get into it. Obviously I wanted to stay here and play tennis, but at some point with the amount of craziness going on, I just wanted to get out and go home,» Djokovic explained.
