Novak Djokovic: ‘I Was Basically Declared as a Villain of the World’ for Refusing Covid Vaccine

EXCERPT:

WERTHEIM (voice-over): "Djokovic found controversy of a larger scale in early 2022. Unvaccinated, he got an exemption to play the Australian Open; at a time when the country was coming out of a long COVID lockdown. But after public outcry, Djokovic was deported -- making for a global news event.”
WERTHEIM (on camera): “How much of a toll did that whole controversy take on you?”
DJOKOVIC: “It did. I was basically declared as a villain of the world, you know, and --”
WERTHEIM: “You sensed that?”
DJOKOVIC: “-- of course. And I had basically, yeah, most of the world against me. I had that kind of experience on the tennis court with, with crowds that were not maybe cheering me on. But I never had this particular experience before in my life.”