Nick Kyrgios says he didn’t know that Novak Djokovic was allegedly poisoned in Australia three years ago but the 29-year-old backed the Serb’s claims by stating that Australia treated him in a very bad way.
Just before the start of the 2025 Australian Open, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion made a bombshell claim, saying that he was poisoned during his stay in the immigration facility during the infamous visa sgaa.
“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,” Djokovic told GQ.
Novak Djokovic© X screenshot
Kyrgios: I didn’t know that, but we surely treated him very badly
“No, I haven’t spoken to him. I didn’t even know that. But I’ll stand on… we treated him like s—, that’s for sure. We wouldn’t have done that,” the Australian said when asked whether he heard or spoke with the former world No. 1 regarding that.
Meanwhile, Djokovic also admitted this week that he still feels the impact of what happened a couple of years ago as arriving in Australia brings back some traumatic memories.
“The last couple of times I landed in Australia, to go through passport control and immigration – I had a bit of trauma from three years ago,” the 37-year-old told the Herald Sun.
Since the incident, he managed to win a record 10th Australian Open title in 2023 before losing in the semifinal last year.
Heading into this year’s Happy Slam, the world No. 7 is regarded as one of the favorites for the title – but anymore the No. 1 favorite – as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are widely considered the two top favorites for the main glory at Melbourne Park.
Meanwhile, Djokovic is set to meet Nishesh Basavareddy in the Australian Open first round while Kyrgios starts against Jacob Fearnley.
Tennis World USA