MELBOURNE — Novak Djokovic found himself at the centre of another media storm after claiming he was poisoned before the Australian Open three years ago.
Djokovic, 37, was detained in a hotel used by Australian immigration authorities to house non-citizens, including asylum seekers, back in 2022 when they cancelled his visa during a legal battle over the player’s vaccination status.
The Serb was eventually deported and did not play the tournament, which he subsequently returned to win 12 months later.
But in a interview with GQ magazine that was released online on Thursday, Djokovic has now claimed that medical tests in Europe appeared to show he had been “poisoned”.
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Read MoreDjokovic told GQ: “I had some health issues. And I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed 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, a very high level of lead and mercury.”
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said they do not comment on individual cases.
Djokovic was not initially asked about the claims at his pre-tournament press conference on Friday afternoon in Melbourne, which started in jovial fashion as he gate-crashed Alexander Zverev’s session with questions about the German’s love of space.
However, local media insisted on asking for an explanation, only for tournament officials to try and shut them down with Emma Raducanu waiting to come into the room for her own press conference.
The 10-time Australian Open champion though batted them off and allowed the question, but then proceeded to ask that no one talked about it in any more detail.
“Look, the GQ article came out online yesterday. I think it’s a February issue, so it’s coming out in print version,” said Djokovic. The magazine is due on newsstands on 28 January.
“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.
“If you want to see what I’ve said and get more info on that, you can always revert to the article.”
Another reporter shouted from the back of the room to ask a follow-up, but Djokovic left the room without answering.
Experts have suggested that the food with the highest concentration of mercury are fish and shellfish, but Djokovic eats a vegan diet, and lead exposure in Australia is very low due to the reduction of the metal’s use in plumbing and paint.
Djokovic, who is chasing a record 25th grand slam title with new coach Andy Murray in tow, had already discussed suffering flashbacks to the week-long saga that dominated the 2022 tournament on arriving in Australia.
“The last couple of times I landed in Australia, to go through passport control and immigration, I had a bit of trauma from three years ago,” Djokovic told Australian newspaper The Herald Sun.
“And some traces still stay there when I’m passing passport control, just checking out if someone from immigration zone is approaching.
“The person checking my passport, are they going to take me, detain me again or let me go? I must admit I have that feeling.”
Nick Kyrgios, who played doubles with Djokovic in Brisbane earlier this year, admitted of the 2022 debacle: “We treated him like s**t, that’s for sure. We shouldn’t have done that.”
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