The Serbian tennis star was infamously kicked out of the country ahead of the grand slam in 2022.
Radio host Neil Mitchell has called for Novak Djokovic to be deported again over ‘ungracious’ comments he made after beating Aussie star Alex de Minaur at the Australian Open. On Wednesday night the 21-time grand slam champion took on Andrey Rublev for a spot in the semi-finals.
Djokovic is unbeaten in his last 38 matches in Australia, stretching back to 2018. The winner will take on Tommy Paul in the final four after the American beat his compatriot Ben Shelton 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 5-7 6-4. The World No.35 had never previously been past the fourth round of a grand slam.
The talk before Djokovic’s clash with Rubrev revolved around the Serbian star’s comments about de Minaur. Djokovic wiped the Aussie off the court on Monday night in a 6-2 6-1 6-2 demolition in the fourth round.
But Djokovic and de Minaur’s frosty relationship came to light after the match, with Djokovic hinting that the pair don’t like each other. Speaking in Serbian, Djokovic referenced comments de Minaur made about him in 2022 when he was critical of his vaccination stance.
Djokovic was infamously deported from the country ahead of the Australian Open last year when he had his visa cancelled due to his vaccination status. De Minaur said at the time that Djokovic had “taken a lot of spotlight away from us competitors”.
“Look, Australians have gone through a lot. There’s no secret about that. They’ve had it very tough. They’ve done a lot of work to protect themselves and their borders,” he said.
“When you’re coming in, as well as every other tennis player, if you wanted to come to the country, you had to be double vaccinated. It was up to him, his choices, his judgment. Here we are.”
