Novak Djokovic news: World No 1 hopes ‘things will shift in a positive way’ after PR damage control

Tennis News
Novak Djokovic attends a press conference

He has had a lot of negative media in the past month and Novak Djokovic has admitted that public relations consultants from around the world have been “trying to manage the situation”.

Djokovic was involved in a PR nightmare in Australia as his visa was cancelled twice while he was also involved in two court cases and spent time in a notorious detention facility.

After a judge sided with him in the first case, the second case went the way of the Australian government as three judges unanimously upheld Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to revoke his visa for a second time on “health and good order grounds”, resulting in his deportation.

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He came in for heavy criticism in the main stream media over his decision not get vaccinated against Covid-19 while at the other end of the scale his fans backed him to the hilt and he also had support from British politician Nigel Farage and anti-vaxx movements.

The 20-time Grand Slam kept a low profile after returning to Serbia, but he finally broke his silence last week in a wide-ranging interview with the BBC.

When asked after his Dubai Tennis Championships first-round win if he was concerned about his image, he replied: “I have many consultants in terms of PR around the world. I have had people from a few different places around the world just trying to manage this situation as best as possible because even though I have plenty of experience with the media, actually mostly sports media, I do feel comfortable to speak with all of you, but obviously circumstances of this situation in Australia has exceeded and escalated.

“It hasn’t been only connected to the sport. There was a lot of different areas of life, including politics, that obviously got involved in this case. Of course, for me, it was very important to be ready when I speak to the media to understand the dynamics.”

He added: “In terms of image, I really don’t know. Of course, there were not many positive articles about this whole situation in the last month or so. But ever since my interview with the BBC, I think things are maybe shifting a little bit. I’m hoping. But I understand there’s still a lot of speculations and people questioning.

“I said what I needed to say, I’ve always been very open and transparent, try to speak with the media that maybe criticise me more or not, whatever. I’m there. I’m open to answer any question. Hopefully things will shift in a positive way for me.”

Novak Djokovic

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