‘Poisoned’: Djokovic’s sensational claim about Australian detention
Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has sensationally claimed he was “poisoned” with toxic food while being held in immigration detention in Melbourne ahead of the 2022 Australian Open.
The Serbian tennis champ was famously deported from Australia on the eve of the 2022 grand slam for his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid.
As he fought the decision to cancel his visa amid a fan and media storm, Djokovic was held for five days at a Melbourne hotel being used for immigration detention – alongside refugees and asylum seekers.
Residents of the Park Hotel in Carlton had previously complained about the conditions, which included bad food, a lack of medical services and poor hygiene.
“I had some health issues. And I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,” Djokovic told GQ Sport.
“I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.”
Asked if he thought that came from the food in Melbourne, Djokovic said: “That’s the only way.
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“[I was] very sick. It was like the flu, just a simple flu. But when it was days after that a simple flu took me down so much, I had an emergency medical team treat me at home. I had that several times and then I had to do toxicology [tests].”
GQ Sport said it had contacted Australia’s Department of Home Affairs but was told it couldn’t comment “for privacy reasons”.
Djokovic initially won a court case to have his visa reinstated but then lost a subsequent appeal to the Federal Court.
Now 37, the Serbian champ is back in Melbourne seeking a record 11 win in the Australian Open. He said he held no grudges against Australia – though he couldn’t say the same for his family.
“For my wife and my parents and my family, it’s not [forgotten],” he said.
“For me, it is. For me, I’m fine. I never held any grudge over Australian people. In contrary, actually, a lot of Australian people that I meet, I met in Australia the last few years or elsewhere in the world, coming up to me and apologising to me for the treatment I received because they were embarrassed by their own government at that point.”
After his deportation, Djokovic was slapped with the standard three-year ban on returning to Australia. That was overturned in November 2022.
“I think the government’s changed and they reinstated my visa and I was very grateful for that. It’s a new prime minister and new ministers, new people, so I don’t hold any grudge for that,” he told the magazine.
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“I actually love being there, and I think my results are a testament to my sensation of playing tennis and just being in that country.”
Novak Djokovic in Melbourne at the height of the storm over his visa. Photo: Getty
With the 2025 Australian Open getting underway on Sunday, Djokovic will channel his inspired Olympics victory over Carlos Alcaraz in Paris last August in his obsessive pursuit to move past Margaret Court as tennis’s most successful grand slam singles player.
“Probably the highlight of my career, what I experienced in Paris last year,” Djokovic told fans at the ASICS Tennis Summit in Melbourne.
With the Olympic gold, the super Serb joined Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi as the only men to complete a career golden slam in singles.
“I’ve been lucky enough to achieve great things in this sport, but winning a gold medal for Serbia at age 37 was probably the last best chance that I had,” he said.
“It happened in almost a kind of a movie-like scenario for me really, having my wife and my kids with me and just incredible support atmosphere.
“The Olympic Games are unlike any other sports event.
“Most important, historic sports event. Happens every four years, so the opportunity is very rare.
“It was just a wonderful fairytale.”
But the 24-time grand slam champ acknowledges he will need to conjure up something equally as special to snare major No.25 in 2025.
“I wish I can play, always like I played in 2023 Australian Open where I was smacking every ball and was not missing a lot and won the whole tournament, just dropping one set,” he said.
-with AAP
