Craig Tiley wasn’t interested in speaking too much about Novak Djokovic’s claim that he was poisoned before his infamous Australia deportation as the Australian Open tournament director insists his understanding is that the Serb has moved on from what happened a few years ago.
Just before the start of this year’s Happy Slam, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion told GQ magazine that he was poisoned while detained in Australia in 2022 January.
“I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me. I never told this to anybody publicly… but I had really high levels of heavy metals—lead and mercury,” the 37-year-old told GQ.
Before this allegation, Djokovic also shared that he has been experiencing “a bit of trauma” whenever he lands in Australia since the visa saga.
Novak Djokovic© YouTube screenshot
The trauma revelation made the headlines but not as many as the one in which the former world No. 1 claimed that he was once poisoned in Australia.
Tiley on Djokovic’s comments: I’m not interested in going back there
“I mean, I’m around him a lot, and my view is that he’s moved on. He’s thinking about what he needs to do this week, what he needs to do tomorrow,” the Australian Open boss said, via The Brisbane Times.
“He wants to win this event. Every conversation is absolutely focused on that. I honestly look at that [as] in the past and even myself personally, I don’t go back there.
“I’m not interested in going back there, and I’m more interested in my role to deliver an awesome event the next two weeks.”
When asked to address in his pre-tournament press conference, Djokovic said he wanted to focus on tennis and not on that.
Meanwhile, the record 10-time Australian Open champion faces Nishvesh Basavareddy in his opener at Melbourne Park.
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