Novak Djokovic news: Serb makes first public appearance since being deported

Kevin Palmer
January 22, 2022

Novak Djokovic’s deportation from Australian has been the big tennis story of 2022, but the world number one appears to be enjoying his time away from the sport.

Djokovic was devastated as he was thrown out of Australia and denied the chance to defend his Australian Open title over his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Now it has emerged that Djokovic is spending his unexpected time away from the court by hitting the ski slopes of Montenegro.

Djokovic was pictured smiling at the Zabljak resort, which looked a little more chilly than the warm conditions he left behind in Melbourne last weekend.

https://twitter.com/MilicaM84932667/status/1484852392357253120?s=20

Meanwhile, former world number one John McEnroe has suggested Djokovic will be scarred by his visa drama in Australia, as he gave his verdict to Eurosport.

“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.

“There’s no question this is going to hit him hard. 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.”

Novak Djokovic