Novak Djokovic gets brutally honest about still feeling 'trauma' of Australian Open deportation saga

Novak Djokovic has made a brutally honest admission about his feelings towards playing at the Australian Open. His comments came after he arrived in Melbourne ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year, which will run from January 12 to 26.

Djokovic has a bittersweet relationship with Australia, particularly Melbourne, where he has won the most Grand Slam titles—10. However, his connection to the country was marred by a nightmare in 2022 when he was deported due to his unvaccinated status against COVID-19.

The Serb was allowed to return to Australia in 2023 after the Australian government lifted the three-year ban imposed on him following his deportation in January 2022. The ban was officially waived in November 2022, paving the way for his participation in subsequent events.

The incident may be three years old, but Djokovic’s wounds haven't fully healed yet, and understandably so. In a recent interview with The Herald Sun, he admitted that during his past few visits to Australia, he was always fearful of immigration officials approaching him, wondering if he would be detained once again.

“I have to be quite frank," he said, "The last couple of times that I landed in Australia, to go through passport control and immigration — I had a bit of trauma from three years ago. And some traces still stay there when I’m passing passport control, just checking out if someone from the 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," he added.

"I don’t hold a grudge" - Novak Djokovic on 2022 Australia incident

Novak Djokovic pictured at the 2025 Brisbane International | Image Source: Getty

In the same interview with The Herald Sun ahead of his 2025 Australian Open campaign, Novak Djokovic acknowledged that while he still felt the weight of the nightmare that unfolded in Australia in 2022, he was free of resentment and held no grudges.

“I don’t hold any resentment to be honest. I don’t hold a grudge. I came like right away the year after in 2023 ... and I won the Australian Open - it was my 22nd Slam. My parents and whole team were there and it was actually one of the most emotional wins that I’ve ever had considering all that I’d been through the year before.’’

The Serb added:

“I have many more positive things to look for and that inspire me to go back to Melbourne. I don’t want to, neither do I feel that one experience like that, of one week or whatever it was, will destroy everything that I have had and what I have achieved in Melbourne in the previous 15-20 years."

Djokovic will begin his campaign Down Under following a disappointing result in Brisbane last week, where he fell to Reilly Opelka in the quarterfinals. He is expected to enter the tournament as the seventh seed.