Novak Djokovic: "After what happened to me in Australia, I expect a proper reception" | Israel today

Looking forward to it. 

After a two-year absence, Novak Djokovic will return to play at the Australian Open starting on January 16, 2023.  

As you may remember, the former number one in the world was disgracefully thrown out of the continent at the beginning of the year, following his refusal to get vaccinated against the corona virus.

Although he had already landed in Australia and did everything to compete, the local authorities did not make him any concessions and sent him back to Serbia.

Yesterday (Friday) after the end of the match between Djokovic and Sebastian Opner as part of the exhibition tournament in Dubai of the World Tennis League, the Serbian commented on his return to Australia and said: "Over the years I have been very lucky to play very well in Australia and I like to compete there. After what happened early More this year, I hope I can get a proper reception, hopefully it will help me play good tennis."

And you can understand how critical the absence from this Grand Slam was for him.

Djokovic, nine of his 21 Grand Slam wins came in Australia, and was a clear favorite to win for the 10th time and break the Grand Slam record, watched from home as Rafael Nadal did it for him. 

Djokovic vandal.

Head to head at the summit, photo: AP

The Serbian now stands at 21 of these, compared to 22 of his Spanish opponent.

Djokovic will of course try to equal Nadal's record, and who knows, maybe later this year - and it could definitely happen - break his record back.

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us