“Those who criticized me the most could come and ask me anything they wanted”- Novak Djokovic reveals why he chose BBC for his first interview

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic had a torrid start to his 2022 season. His refusal to take a vaccination and subsequent deportation from the Australian Open have dominated the headlines this year.

The Serb faced a tough ordeal in Australia. He was initially granted a ‘medical exemption’ to enter the country. but was then held by the border police on his arrival. This order was then overturned in the federal court and it looked like the Serb would be allowed to defend his Australian Open crown. But a couple of days later, the immigration minister, Alex Hawke decided to vex his personal powers, as a result Djokovic’s visa was canceled and he was deported from Australia.

Following his deportation, Djokovic kept a low profile and said he will only give a statement on his ordeal in Australia after the tournament ended. He was true to his words and gave an exclusive interview with BBC, shortly after the end of the Australian Open. In his in-depth interview, the 20-time Grand Slam champion spoke about the tough time he endured Down Under and also revealed he will stick to his stance of not getting a Covid jab and is ready to miss tournaments as a result.

Novak Djokovic says he would rather skip future tournaments than be forced to get a Covid jab, in an exclusive BBC interview https://t.co/vLNeBvgp0M
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 15, 2022

Djokovic expains his reasoning behind choosing BBC for his first interview

In an interview with Serbian media outlet Sportklub, Djokovic revealed the reason he chose BBC over local media outlets. The Serb reckoned if gave an interview to an outlet which he knew, others would accuse him of setting up the interview, so he wanted to avoid such allegations.

“If I had called someone with whom I have a good relationship, they would have said: ‘Here he is, he set up an interview so that they don’t ask him anything, he runs away from embarrassing situations, he hides something’ ‘That is the biggest reason why I called them. Those who criticized me the most could come and ask me anything they wanted, ” he said.