Novak Djokovic news: John McEnroe finds parts of the Serb’s story ‘hard to believe’

Australian Open

Kevin Palmer
January 21, 2022

Tennis legend John McEnroe has admitted he was left bemused by the Novak Djokovic visa scandal in Australia, as he admitted there are parts of the Serbian’s story that he finds “hard to believe”.

Djokovic submitted documents suggesting he tested positive Covid-19, which he believed would then allow him to apply for a medical exemption to enter Australia without being vaccinated against Covid-19.

Yet the Serb then attended an event giving our awards to children on December 17th and also conducted an in-person interview with L’Equipe the following day without telling anyone at those events about his positive Covid test.

Now McEnroe has told Eurosport that Djokovic’s decision to hide his positive test result is hard to fathom, as he gave a broad hint he didn’t entirely believe the version of events put forward by the world number one.

“I’m still trying to figure out why he would meet with a journalist if, in fact, he had Covid and not tell the journalist, I find that hard to believe,” said McEnroe.

“He has made it somewhat more difficult for himself by not getting vaccinated. That’s complicated things for trying to defend titles that he won.”

McEnroe went on to suggest Djokovic has made his life tougher by refusing to be vaccinated, as he questioned whether he could continue his career unless he changes his position.

“There’s no question this is going to hit him hard,” added seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe.

“Now there’s uncertainty about the French Open, he’ll need to be vaccinated to play there, and what about Wimbledon? He doesn’t care about these other tournaments, so this is really, really unfortunate for a guy who had worked so hard to be loved.

“It’s tough to be loved and I know about times when people are against you, but deep down we want to be loved.

“When he lost to (Daniil) Medvedev at the US Open and he was going for the [calendar] Grand Slam, he said the biggest thing was that he appreciated the crowd there. Australia’s the place where they love him the most and he didn’t even play, so this becomes ludicrous. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

“He is as tough as they come ever on a tennis court mentally, remember a couple of years ago when he fell off the map, he’d won four (Grand Slam titles) in a row and the next year and a half or so he couldn’t beat anyone. All of a sudden he came back and he was better than ever,” he said.

Djokovic was deported from Australia after a court ruling suggesting his presence in the country would stir anti-vaccine sentiment.

Novak Djokovic