‘I don’t go back there’: Open boss reacts to latest Novak storm

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says Novak Djokovic has not expressed to him any lingering ill-feeling about the deportation drama of three summers ago and insists his own relationship with him is strong.

Djokovic has twice revisited the controversy that overshadowed the 2022 Australian Open ahead of his quest for a record-breaking 25th grand slam, saying in separate media interviews that he felt traumatised when he returned to Melbourne because of his experience and claiming he was given food that “poisoned” him while in immigration detention.

Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has come under fire for his handling of the Novak Djokovic saga. Credit: Getty Images

Tiley came under immense pressure at the time of Djokovic’s detention and eventual deportation, after Tennis Australia and a board of medical experts connected with the Victorian government granted Djokovic an exemption to participate in the tournament on the basis that he had recently recovered from COVID.

The Tennis Australia boss argued to a federal advisory body that the Open’s viability depended on whether players who had not been double vaccinated would be allowed into the country to compete.

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