Novak Djokovic opened up on his time spent in a Melbourne detention hotel (Image: Getty)
made an astonishing clam that he was “poisoned” while detained in a quarantine hotel in Melbourne three years ago.
In 2022, the world No. 7 was famously detained and eventually deported when he arrived Down Under for the . Djokovic did not meet the vaccine requirements at the time, though he had obtained a medical exemption.
Djokovic had two separate stints in a detention hotel until the then-Immigration minister used his powers to cancel his visa. And he now alleges that he was “fed some food that poisoned” him after discovering he had “high levels” of metal.
Ahead of the , Djokovic has opened up about his time spent in the Park Hotel in 2022. Following a 10-day ordeal that saw Djokovic have his visa cancelled twice, he was famously deported from Australia on the eve of the tournament three years ago.
For the first time since, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has sensationally claimed he was left unwell after eating food provided in the hotel, as he became ill after arriving home in Serbia.
“I had some health issues. And I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed some food that poisoned me,” the 37-year-old told .
“Well, 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.”
Asked to clarify again whether he believed it was from the food, Djokovic replied: “That’s the only way.”
Novak Djokovic was detained and deported from Australia in 2022 (Image: Getty)
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The world No. 7 had an emergency medical team treat him at home and added: “Yeah, 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 that several times and then I had to do toxicology [tests].”
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs told GQ they couldn’t comment on individual cases.
The Park Hotel began housing refugees and asylum seekers in 2020, who long complained of poor conditions. Djokovic’s stay in the hotel brought attention to their treatment. By April 2022 – three months after Djokovic was deported – the final detainees were released.
The world No. 7 has now given an insight into the conditions in the hotel. “I had a paper with like a hundred items: from toothbrush, toothpaste, water, food, whatever,” he explained.
“And I had to choose, tick the certain boxes, and each of these items carries a certain amount of points, and I had 60 points in total of what I was allowed to receive. So I did that 59 or 60 points, and I gave it to them. Twenty minutes later I come back and they say, we made a mistake: you don’t have 60, you have 30. So I was like, You must be kidding me.”
Djokovic was initially sent to the detention hotel after his visa was revoked by Australian border force officials, who claimed he “failed to provide appropriate evidence” for his medical vaccine exemption.
A judge reinstated his visa and ordered his release. But Djokovic says he was still monitored after leaving the hotel the first time. He continued: “Honestly, I was in a rented house and I was followed by police everywhere I went, and I had the helicopter hovering around the centre court where I was training.
“I was not allowed to access the locker room, main locker room. So they had to find an alternative locker room for me to change and take a shower and get me out of the site. So I was kind of like a fugitive there.”
Alex Hawke, who was the country’s Immigration minster at the time used his powers to Djokovic’s visa again, suggesting his presence could stir up anti-vaccine sentiment in Australia. Following a court hearing, Djokovic’s visa was not reinistated and he was deported.
The 37-year-old added: “That’s what the three federal judges said in the end. Their sentence is that they are not in a position to question the discretionary right of the [immigration] minister. It was so political.
“It had nothing really to do with the vaccine or 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.”
Djokovic now says he holds no grudges in Australia. He returned just 12 months after the ordeal to win his 10th title in 2023. And he is now hunting a record 25th Major at Melbourne Park.