Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia in 2022 for not being vaccinated against coronavirus, with Piers Morgan slamming him for his stance on jabs at the time
Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia in early 2022(Image: Getty)
Piers Morgan has apologised to Novak Djokovic for his comments about the Serb star’s decision not to get Covid vaccinations
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was famously deported from Australia ahead of the 2022 Australian Open after arriving without the vaccine. Morgan slammed Djokovic at the time, branding him a “Covid rule cheat, immigration form liar and anti-vaxxer icon.”
But the tennis ace was delighted to hear Morgan retract his remarks and acknowledged that he and everyone else was “going through hell” during the pandemic, as the pair sat down on Morgan’s YouTube show, Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“I’ve talked about you quite a lot and I’m going to start by making an apology, and it’s for this. I was very censorious about you over the Covid scandal that you got caught up in,” the presenter told Djokovic.
“I was actually quite censorious about a lot of people at the time and I’ve since apologised for being too tough on them because once it became clear that, if you had the vaccine, it made no difference to whether you could then transmit the virus. Clearly, at that point for me, it becomes a personal choice.”
READ MORE: Novak Djokovic fires ban warning to Jannik Sinner – ‘I don’t think it will disappear’READ MORE: Rafa Nadal’s uncle calls for huge change in tennis that could shake up the pecking order
Morgan explained that Djokovic’s vaccine saga “felt quite personal” because he had witnessed his mates lose loved ones during the pandemic. After discovering more information about the Serb’s circumstances, he recognised things were more complex than he initially understood.
The 60 year old continued: “When I look back on that and reflect on that, I would like to say I’m sorry for the intemperate language I used against you. Because I didn’t know you, I took what I was reading and hearing at face value, it turned out to be more complicated. Yeah, I’m sorry for over-egging the rhetorical souffle.”
Piers Morgan had been highly critical of Novak Djokovic(Image: 2019 Getty Images)
Djokovic graciously accepted Morgan’s apology, indicating that it “spoke volumes” about the presenter. The Olympic champion responded: “I appreciate that very much. Your honesty, thank you so much.
“It was difficult times and state of emergency globally, I understand. We’ve been through hell globally, all of us on this planet.”
Setting the record straight, Djokovic went on: “And the only thing I would add, not to really dig deeper into this whole situation on the Covid and vaccination, is that I was never a proponent of anti-vax or pro-vax, I was always freedom of choice.
“And that was misinterpreted, I was claimed to be one side or the other side or so forth. It was either black or white, and I said, ‘It doesn’t need to be that way’.
“As an athlete, as someone that takes care of the integrity of the body and understanding of obviously doing my research and understanding that I am not a threat to anybody and I don’t need to do it myself. I’ve been through it two times, two or three times I had Covid in like a year, year and I half, so I had all the antibodies et cetera.
“Anyway, long story short, good to see you here, good to finally meet you. And I appreciate and respect the fact that, what you said, it speaks volumes about the person that you are so I really respect that and I was looking forward to speak to you even before you were slamming me for some time!”.