Djokovic reflects on his deportation during the Covid pandemic and reiterates his stance on the vaccine

In a new cover story published Thursday and appearing in GQ’s February issue, journalist Daniel Riley sat down with Novak Djokovic in Montenegro for an in-depth conversation about his career, his family, his retirement, his interest in politics and much more.

On his father’s wishes for him to retire...

“My father has been trying to get me to retire for a long time… he says to me: ‘What else do you want to do?’ He understands the amount and intensity of the pressure and tension that there is out there, and the stress that it affects on my health, on my body and, consequently, on everyone around me, including him. So he said to me: ‘My son, start thinking about how you want to end this. ’”

On leaving his family for tournaments...

“In 48 hours… that’s when I feel the most intense of those emotions, of sadness, of separation, of regret, and just the incredible need to be back with my kids and my wife.”

About his retirement...

“I think more about how than when. I don’t think about when that much yet, but as for how… I think if I start losing more, if overcoming the challenges that Grand Slams entail becomes more and more of a challenge, then I’ll probably call it a day. But right now I’m fine, we’re moving on.”

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On being arrested and eventually deported in 2022 from Melbourne, where he went to play in a tournament, without being vaccinated...

“It was so political. It had nothing really to do with vaccine or COVID or anything else. It’s just political. The politicians could not stand me being there. For them, I think, it was less damage to deport me than to keep me there. My stance is exactly the same today as it was a few years ago. I’m not pro-vaccine. I’m not anti-vax. I am pro-freedom to choose what is right for you and your body. So when somebody takes away my right to choose what I should be taking for my body, I don’t think that’s correct.”

On never getting vaccinated against Covid...

“I don’t feel like I needed one. I just don’t feel like I needed one. I’m a healthy individual, I take care of my body, take care of my health needs, and I’m a professional athlete. And because I’m a professional athlete, I’m extremely mindful of what I consume, and I do regular tests, blood tests, any kind of tests. I know exactly what’s going on. So I didn’t feel a need to do that. Also, what is important to state is knowing that I’m not a threat to anybody. Because I wasn’t. Because I had antibodies.”

On being tried for supporting Croatia at the 2018 World Cup...

“I was judged a lot, including by high-ranking government officials. But for me it is quite simple: first of all, I have family from Croatia. And number two, that’s how I feel in my heart: How can I be cheering for someone that is farther away from me than someone who is my neighbor and with whom I have not only family connections, but also so many similarities?”

On whether he would go into politics in his country...

“First of all, I have to say because a lot of people are asking me whether I want to be a politician one day because they think I should run for president of Serbia. And right now, I’m definitely not interested in that because I think that the political scene or political world in our region is not good at all. Not to use any harsher words, but I don’t see how I would be able, personally, to thrive for my country and to be able to give to my country what my country deserves in a way that wouldn’t be, how can I say? manipulated. There’s so much manipulation right now that even if you go into politics with good intentions… and I have to emphasize this, I’m not educated for politics. So even in the future, if I would think about something like that, I would first go through a period of education. But I don’t think that I would currently, without education, jump into that and thrive in that environment - and deliver what I think I want to deliver.”

On whether he thinks his records will ever be broken...

“It’s too early. But, you know, people say my records will never be broken. I doubt that. I mean, Carlos could be already the next guy. Even Jannik. If they take care of the body, if they do things in a proper way, focus on longevity, focus on the long-term, then they can do it.”

On Carlos Alcaraz saying he wants to make history...

“He’s even said himself, he wants to make history. He wants to be ‘the best in history.’ I respect that kind of mentality of ‘Hey, I think I got the goods.’ But maybe it’s a little bit early for him to think about history.”

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On how the most intimidation he’s ever felt before or during a match was with Rafael Nadal...

“The most intimidating? That’s Rafa. It was him, for sure. Roger also had this huge aura, of course. And before you were playing him, you felt it. But he did it more gracefully, I guess, you know? But, I mean Nadal, because we all share locker rooms, so you see the players warming up and so forth.

“I’ve seen somewhere that when he was asked about that, he said, No, I was never doing that to intimidate. I was like, umm… I’m not so sure. But he was famous for that, still sprinting in the little corridors of the locker room where he’s literally taking people down. They walk out of the toilet and, yeah, he wants to make his presence felt. You know? Physical. I’m here. I’m jumping around. I’m ready for a battle. I’m going to get physical with you from the very beginning. From the first moment, you’re going to hear my grunts. So that’s very intimidating for a lot of players. And if you are not confident in yourself, you don’t have the self-belief, if you don’t have a clear game plan on what you want to do from the beginning, he’s going to eat you alive".

On his personal relationship with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal...

“Privately,it’s kind of going up and down, to be honest. I try to be always respectful and friendly to them off the court. But I didn’t have the acceptance early on, ’cause I did go out on the court saying and showing that I’m confident that I want to win. And I don’t think that both of them maybe liked that in the early days. Particularly because most of the players were going out to play them, not to win. And because of that confident stance, they probably were even more distanced from me. And that’s fine. I accepted it as it is. I understood the messaging that I got, which was we are rivals and nothing else. And to be quite frank, it’s very difficult to be a friend on the tour. If you are biggest rivals, and you’re constantly competing and you’re number one and two and three in the world, and for you to be close, go for dinners and family trips, it’s tough to expect that, to be honest.”

About your future relationship with them...

“Each one of us has had and has currently his own way in life and journey. And I think, with Roger, the last few times that I saw him, we talk about family, being on the road. And actually I do wish to connect with those guys more, on a deeper level. I really do. Whether that’s going to happen or not, I don’t know if they share the same desire or willingness. I do. I do want to...and let’s see, it depends how life is going to guide us or turn out for all of us. We live in different places and I think tennis is what brought so much to all of us. And tennis is probably still going to bring us together in some shape or form. I will definitely extend my invitation to them to spend some time relaxing and reflecting. I do wish to have a drink or two with them and just open up and talk about the things that annoyed everyone about me! Or vice versa, whatever it is. Let’s just put it all out there. And I think I would love to also pick their brains and understand what they were thinking about, how they were handling certain situations on the court, pressures of the world that is on your shoulders when you’re at the top of the game. And I have my observations, ’cause I did observe them as they did observe me over the years. But it’s different when you hear it from the man himself. So I hope that in some kind of environment that is really relaxing, one day we can all open up and reflect. It would be great for us. But also I think it would send a great message to the people who follow tennis and sports that, hey, three of us getting together”.

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