Novak Djokovic miffed with BBC interview outcome; says was left humiliated

Novak Djokovic admitted that he was humiliated in Australia last month. While he gave an interview on the same to BBC, he is unhappy with how it has been portrayed.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia was heavily in the news last month as he was barred from competing in the Australian Open, leading to Rafael Nadal of Spain winning the record-breaking 21st Grand Slam (GS). He recently gave an interview of the same to BBC. However, he has expressed his displeasure at how he has been portrayed.

Djokovic had admitted that he had enough medical exemption from participating in the AO without being fully vaccinated for COVID. However, he was denied the same by the Australian authorities. After battling a legal trial, he lost his case and was deported. As he revealed his thoughts to the BBC, he said that the channel cut his interview short to 30 minutes from 90 mins.

Talking to a Serbian channel, Djokovic noted, “I was painted in a gruesome manner. If I may say so, I was humiliated on a world stage. That is why I need to have the opportunity to say something. I will repeat what I said to the BBC because I don’t have more to add.”

“I will keep saying it and repeat it like a parrot, although the BBC had cut that part of the interview. Ten days before me, a Czech tennis player and Croatian coach entered Australia with the same medical exemption. She played in a tournament. He coached his player with no problem at all. Suddenly, I come, and there is a problem. Why? You tell me,” added Djokovic, as reported by Metro.

Djokovic further asserted that he did everything he was asked to but did not get back the proper reciprocal treatment. He has also affirmed that he will keep skipping the tournaments that mandate COVID vaccination, especially after what he went through for 11 days in Melbourne. He assumes that he has learnt a lot during his saga in Australia and will never forget it.

“I can’t erase from my memory what happened. It is still fresh. Some things shook me that I can’t forget, let alone something like this. What I can do is accept it and move on. You will never see me running away from responsibility or not wanting to answer a certain question. I am not hiding anything,” Djokovic concluded.