NOVAK Djokovic claims he was “poisoned” by food he ate while detained during his 2022 Australian Open visa saga.
The 24-time tennis Grand Slam winner had his visa cancelled ahead of the tournament following days of drama over the country’s Covid entry rules and his unvaccinated status.
The 37-year-old Serbian was detained in a Melbourne hotel shared with asylum seekers.
“I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,” Djokovic, who is known to monitor his diet strictly, told GQ.
“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 went on to describe how he was “very sick” with flu-like symptoms as he then headed back to Europe and an emergency medical team had to treat him multiple times.
However, ahead of this year’s Open, which kicks off on Sunday, he doesn’t hold any grudges.
Djokovic had missed out Grand Slams in Australia and the US after choosing not to get a Covid shot, violating their vaccination policies.
He has since said he was never against the Covid vaccine, insisting that he was simply exercising his freedom to choose not to have it.
Speaking to John McEnroe in an interview aired in September 2023, Djokovic said: “I was never anti-vax.
“I was always pro-freedom to choose. And that’s something that we took really for granted.
“I didn’t feel like a lot of people had a choice really.”
Djokovic also said his bans made him feel like a “villain of the world.”
He added: “I just wanted to compete and I wanted to play tennis, because that’s what I do best.”
In 2022, the tennis ace faced a tirade of backlash after coming clean about knowingly flouting isolation measures in Serbia while infected – which according to the country’s law was punishable by up to three years behind bars.
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs had declined to comment on the matter, citing privacy reasons, according to GQ.
