Novak Djokovic 'poisoned' in Australia as Open hit by fresh Jannik Sinner suspension drama
The 10-time champion has gone public with staggering new claims.
Novak Djokovic has aired stunning new claims that he was 'poisoned' while in hotel detention in Australia in 2022. And World No.1 Jannik Sinner will play the Australian Open with a fresh suspension drama hanging over his head after testing positive to a banned drug last year.
Djokovic was famously deported from Australia in 2022 and denied the chance to play the Melbourne Park grand slam due to his vaccination status. The 24-time grand slam champion was put in hotel detention for a numbers of days before his visa was cancelled and he was kicked out of the country.
It came during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and because Djokovic wasn't vaccinated he became public enemy No.1. But speaking this week, the Serbian star revealed for the first time that he suspects he was 'poisoned' while in hotel detention by lead and mercury in his food.
"I had some health issues. And I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed some food that poisoned me," the 37-year-old told 'GQ magazine'. "I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I had a really high level of heavy metal. I had lead, a very high level of lead and mercury."
When asked if he thinks his food was contaminated, Djokovic replied: "That's the only way." GQ said they reached out to Australia's Department of Home Affairs for a response but were told that they couldn't comment "for privacy reasons".
Novak Djokovic holds no ill will towards Australia
Despite the trauma of his ordeal, Djokovic still insists he doesn't hold "any grudge over the Australian people". He returned to Australia in 2023 and won the Open title, and is bidding for an 11th Australian Open crown this year.
"A lot of Australian people that I meet in Australia the last few years or elsewhere in the world, have come up to me, apologising to me for the treatment I received because they were embarrassed by their own government at that point," he said.
"And I think the government's changed, and they reinstated my visa, and I was very grateful for that. I actually love being there, and I think my results are a testament to my sensation of playing tennis and just being in that country."
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Jannik Sinner playing Australian Open under huge cloud
Meanwhile, Italian star Sinner will play the Australian Open with a potential two-year ban hanging over his head. The World No.1 has arrived in Melbourne for his title defence with his future under a murky cloud, after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed a decision to ban him for just one month for twice testing positive for an anabolic steroid last March.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled that Sinner was not at fault, accepting the 23-year-old's explanation that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system accidentally. Sinner said he received a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat a cut on his own finger.
But WADA has appealed the 'lenient' one-month ban, meaning Sinner could still serve a suspension of up to two years if found guilty. In an exclusive interview with AAP this week, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi insisted the controversy involving his fellow Italian had been "run by the book" and Sinner hadn't been given preferential treatment.
"I genuinely believe there has been a lot of misinformation out there, which is unfortunate," Gaudenzi said. "I am 100 per cent sure that there has not been any preferential treatment. The process has been run by the book and according to the rules, by the ITIA.
"I'm extremely pleased that the ITIA is now in place, which wasn't the case, for example, in the '90s when I was playing. It was the responsibility of the ATP or the WTA to manage the tennis anti-doping program.
"It's a very popular thing to say - he's No.1 in the world, obviously he's Italian and I'm Italian. People sometimes confuse the outcome of a specific case versus the process. I think that's where the problem is.
"The process is identical - he hasn't been treated differently. But every case is different, every circumstance is different. Sometimes a player might appeal a suspension and might not get the appeal. Sometimes they do, and it depends on the evidence and it depends on the expert opinion and it depends on the substance. It depends on a very large number of variables."
with agencies
