Novak Djokovic: Why Australian experts aren’t buying the tennis star’s poison claims

Experts believe Novak Djokovic’s claim of being served ‘poisoned’ food at a Melbourne hotel during his 2022 detention is ‘very unlikely’; however, they have not ruled out the possibility entirely. Djokovic was detained at a hotel in Melbourne prior to the Australian Open in 2022 before being deported as his visa was cancelled over him being ineligible to visit the country while being unvaccinated for COVID-19.

Djokovic stayed at Park Hotel in Melbourne for five days during his detention as his appeal against deportation fell flat in the court. In a recent interview, the 24-time Grand Slam winner revealed that he was given “some food” at the hotel which “poisoned” him with “high level of lead and mercury”.

“I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,” Djokovic told GQ magazine in an interview that was released on Thursday.

“I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I was, I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.”