On Monday, the Australian Open begins and Novak Djokovic is chasing his tenth title.

He is back in the tournament after he was stopped last year and deported from the country because he is not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The former world number one believes he was treated unfairly and talks about the incident in a TV interview with Channel Nine.

- I was really drawn into a media storm all over the world with everything to do with covid-19 and the vaccine.

All of a sudden I became the villain of the whole world, which is a terrible position to be in as an athlete, says Novak Djokovic according to The New Zealand Herald.

He says that it took time for him to get over the events and that although he wanted to move on, it was difficult when he was constantly being asked questions about what happened.

- Everything got out of hand and I was labeled as different things.

It was so big in the media that I couldn't fight it, I didn't even want to talk about it.

"Obviously I just wanted to stay here and play tennis, but with all the craziness that was going on, I got to a point where I just wanted to go home," said Novak Djokovic.

Spanish opposition in the first round

Last week, Novak Djokovic, now ranked fifth in the world, warmed up by winning the ATP tournament in Adelaide.

In the first round of the Australian Open, the Serb faces Roberto Carballes, 75th in the world ranking.

- It is still unfortunate what happened and it hurts me that most people have the wrong idea about what happened, says Novak Djokovic.

ARCHIVE: Novak Djokovic back in Australia:

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Novak Djokovic back in Australia: "Must move on" Photo: Bildbyrån