Novak Djokovic astonishingly claims he was fed ‘poisoned’ food while detained in Australia in 2022

Novak Djokovic has made an astonishing claim of being fed food that he believes was “poisoned” him while he was being detained in Melbourne before the 2022 Australian Open.

The tennis legend stated he was "extremely unwell" after returning to Serbia from Melbourne, and revealed that he had discovered a "very high level of lead and mercury" in his body.

He was removed from the country before the 2022 Australian Open after his visa was revoked due to him not being vaccinated against Covid-19, following a long-standing controversy over the issue.

The Serbian was being held in a detention facility after arriving in Melbourne even though he had been granted a medical exemption to enter Australia without having had a vaccine.

The former world number one was successful in a court case to overturn the decision to cancel his travel visa, made by the Australian Border Force.

However, Djokovic was forced to leave the country following the court's affirmation of Immigration Minister Alex Hawke's decision to revoke his visa for a second time.

Djokovic shed light on the circumstances he faced in the detention centre.

"I had a list of around a hundred things: toothbrush, toothpaste, water and food, and so on," the 37-year-old explained. "And I had to choose, tick certain boxes, and each of these items was worth a certain number of points, and I had a total of 60 points available to spend.

“I did that prescribed 59 or 60 points, and I presented it to them. Twenty minutes later I came back and they said, we made a mistake: you don’t have 60, you have 30. So I was like, You must be joking.”

“Many of the athletes who were in quarantine for about 40 days beforehand were in the room with me, but they weren't as confined as I was.”

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“Then, when I won the case, I was free. I mean, free if you can even call this freedom. Honestly, I was living in a rented house and I was constantly being followed by the police, wherever I went, with a helicopter even hovering above me as I trained on the court in the centre.”

I wasn't permitted to enter the main locker room. So arrangements had to be made for me to use a different locker room to change and shower before I could leave the premises. It was a bit like being an outsider.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion claimed he had been poisoned by metals in food he consumed while at an immigration detention centre.

"I had some health problems and I realised I had eaten some contaminated food at that hotel in Melbourne," Djokovic said.

Well, I had some findings when I returned to Serbia. I've never shared this publicly before, but I found that I had a significantly high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal, in fact, I had high levels of lead and mercury. That, I believe, must have originated from food.

Yeah, I was very unwell. It was much like a bad flu, just a straightforward flu. But a few days after that bad flu took me down quite a lot. I had (care from an emergency medical team) several times, and then I had to undergo (tests to identify any poison).

Djokovic explained that being viewed as a "public threat" and a "hero" by anti-vaccination supporters were the actual reasons for his deportation.

'That's the real reason I was deported from Australia,' he explained. 'That's what the three federal judges ultimately decided. Their ruling stated that they are not equipped to challenge the minister's discretion over immigration.

It was shocking in its politics. The focus wasn't on the vaccine or Covid at all. It was purely politics. The politicians clearly couldn't handle me being there. From where I'm standing, it seemed they thought it would be less of a problem to deport me than to keep me in the position.

“And even to this day, 99 per cent of the population are unaware of the reason for my deportation from Australia. On what grounds. People believe that I was deported from Australia due to not having received the vaccine. That I was unvaccinated and made an attempt to enter Australia, which is entirely unfounded.”

The world No 7 added: "My position remains the same as it was a few years ago. I'm not in support of vaccines. I'm not against vaccines. I'm in favour of having the freedom to make your own decisions about what's best for yourself and your body."

So when someone takes away my right to decide what I should be putting into my body, I don't think that's right.