Novak Djokovic started his 2025 season at the Brisbane International. Despite being impressive in the tournament, he lost the quarterfinals to Reilly Opelka, as the latter pulled off one of the greatest victories of his career. While this defeat was disappointing, Djokovic has some very fond memories of Australia. He has won 10 Grand Slams on the hard courts of Melbourne, the most he has ever won on any surface. But he has also experienced some terrible moments in the land down under and for that, he has now received sympathy from the Prime Minister of Australia.

Three years back, the Serb was detained by the Government of Australia due to vaccination-relation complications. He was taken to a hotel and then finally sent back to his country. Djokovic recently reflected on that experience, saying, “I have to be quite frank. The last couple of times I landed in Australia, to go through passport control and immigration – I had a bit of trauma from three years ago. And some traces still stay there when I’m passing passport control, just checking out if someone from immigration zone is ­approaching. The person checking my passport – are they going to take me, detain me again or let me go? I must admit I have that feeling,” Djokovic said in an interview with Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.

Upon reading about the Serb’s experience, Australia’s current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his sadness. He criticized the former Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s insensitive treatment towards Djokovic and called out the previous Scott Morrison Government. “I found it astonishing that in the lead-up to Christmas, Novak Djokovic was denied by the then-federal government the opportunity to see his Orthodox … priest, That was something that I think was hard to justify,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Interestingly, Djokovic claimed to hold no “resentment or “grudge” about the situation. Instead, he took great pride in returning to the country next year when the pandemic was over and won the 2023 Australian Open title. “My parents and whole team were there and it was actually one of the most emotional wins I’ve ever had considering all that I’d been through the year before,” the Serb said talking about his 2023 Australian Open victory.

Although the controversy is over now, Djokovic’s 2022 Australian Open case became one of the biggest news worldwide. What actually happened then?

Why was Novak Djokovic unable to participate in the 2022 Australian Open?

Djokovic denied COVID-19 vaccinations sparking a major controversy. He was willing to pay the price for his decision. The Serb confirmed that he was never against vaccination but the lack of people’s freedom to decide if they want to inject any medicine into their bodies. When he arrived in Australia for the Melbourne Major, he was detained at the airport by the authorities and was sent to a hotel.

Djokovic decided to take the matter to court and challenged the government’s decision about cancellation of his visa on”health and good order” grounds. However, the judges denied Djokovic’s appeal and he had to leave for Dubai on a flight. Although the Serb confessed he was “extremely disappointed” about the situation, he ultimately accepted the ruling. The former ATP number one fought his case for 10 days while staying in the hotel and tried his best to earn an opportunity to defend his Australian Open title. However, things didn’t go his way. Djokovic eventually returned the next year to clinch the title in front of his father and team.

Novak Djokovic’s 2022 Australia Open absence disheartened his followers. However, that’s in the past now and people are rooting for the Serb this year in Melbourne. Do you think he can win another title on Melbourne’s hard court?