Loved and unloved: Behind the relationship between Djokovic and Australia

In order to win an 11th Australian Open and become the first to reach 25 Grand Slam singles titles, Novak Djokovic will likely have to overcome the young duo who recently surpassed him in Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

In 2025, Djokovic, then 37, called on the towering Novak to beat Alcaraz in four sets at Melbourne Park, but fell to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals due to a muscle tear sustained in that semi-final.

At the time, he didn’t know if 2025 would be his last Australian Open. “There’s a chance. Who knows?”

Of course, to the delight of Tennis Australia, Djokovic has made it back to the fateful shores and will enter the Australian Open as arguably the next most admired man outside of Sinner and Alcaraz, having failed in the former twice (Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) and once (US Open) over the course of 2025.

And as always, he will have a legion of fans in his corner and a section of the public who will oppose him; that’s long been Novak’s equation, a brash Serb unfortunate enough to be a confidence-buster, a player who broke the duopoly of the more adored Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but more a disruptor of popular rule than an underdog.

The 20-year relationship between the most successful (male) player in tennis history and the Australian public has become complicated.

Former Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee is among those in the pro-Djokovic camp, but he also knows – and is willing to diagnose – the origins of the anti-Novak cohort in the country that has been his leading partner at the level of Grand Slam victories.

McNamee believes Djokovic is subject to “cultural differences” between him and a significant portion of the Australian public.

Noting Djokovic’s “compassion” for others and unprecedented charity work, McNamee told this masthead: “He just rubs some Australians the wrong way because he’s a bit over-theatrical and over-dramatic.

“And it just doesn’t fit the Australian palate.

Specifically, McNamee felt that there was an Anglo-centric media bias for Western Europeans and against those from the East. “I think there is a bias towards Western Europe compared to Eastern Europe,” he said. “I think the Anglo-Saxon media tends to be biased towards the west… that’s just the way it is.”

“He comes from a country that was not popular at the time.

However, it would be a false exaggeration, as one well-known tennis pundit noted off the record, to suggest that Djokovic is unpopular with the Australian tennis public; he just is less more favored than Federer and Nadal.

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“He’s not as popular as Federer,” said John Alexander, the Australian tennis great, commentator and former federal MP. “Name me someone who is? And Nadal?”

Djokovic’s relationship with Australia and its citizens was soured by the events of December 2021 to January 2022, when he was sent away – deported, no less, by the Morrison government – ​​for his unwillingness to comply with the COVID vaccine mandate.

Alexander, who was then a Liberal member for John Howard’s old seat (Bennelong), disagreed with his government’s hard line which saw Djokovic first granted a vaccine exemption (on the grounds that he had been infected with COVID-19 and therefore did not need the vaccination) but subsequently forced to leave the country for non-compliance.

“I was critical of Scott Morrison at the time,” Alexander said. “Initially, he was part of the considerations [Morrison] it was for Djokovic to play and I forget what his comments were at the time but it was pretty strong… and then I was cynical that they did some sort of poll to see what would get a good laugh from the voters and I think that gave Novak the thumbs down and that’s the decision making process.”

McNamee went a step further in defending Djokovic, who was reportedly caught at events in Belgrade at the time of his positive COVID-19 test but ended up incarcerated in a Melbourne detention center and whose return here has been the most watched since perhaps Tampa.

“It was a shame for me that we fired the fittest and healthiest guy in the world. But that’s the way it is,” he said.

McNamee, who says he knows Djokovic “pretty well,” added: “But he’s a lot more authentic than people give him credit for, and I think people are starting to see that. We don’t have to agree with him, but he’s true to himself.”

Tennis Australia was uncomfortably wedged between the government – which it relied on for funding and much more – and its most successful player and biggest draw.

Four years ago, when the Australian government slapped him, Djokovic found vocal support from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who blamed Australia for “torturing and abusing” the 10-time Australian Open winner and treating him like a “mass murderer” before he was deported.

In a Serbian-language video posted on Instagram, Vucic criticized then-Prime Minister Morrison for “harassing” the tennis great, vowed that Serbia would “fight for Novak Djokovic” and asked: “Is this all necessary to win elections and please your public?”

But while the authoritarian Serbian president was on Team Novak, Vucic and his government shifted to a hostile view of Djokovic from late 2024 due to the player’s support for the mass student anti-corruption protests that have swept Serbia.

The state-backed media, which once celebrated Djokovic, branded him a “disgrace” and a “fake patriot” after he recently moved to Greece. The animosity is also believed to have led to the relocation of the Belgrade Open – an ATP 250 event owned and operated by the Djokovic family – to the Greek capital Athens as the Greek Championship in 2025 (Djokovic won the inaugural tournament).

The Serbian government further reduced the budget of the Serbian Tennis Federation, whose president is Novak’s uncle Goran Djokovic.

Djokovic’s willingness to stand up, even at the risk of his own popularity, standing or position, is a defining characteristic, as is his ability to win the most critical points at majors (none more so, Alexander pointed out, than in the 2019 Wimbledon final, when he saved match points against Federer’s serve to win).

Beloved by his own followers, loathed by a significant number, but respected, if grudgingly, for his incredible drive and mental strength, Djokovic’s popularity seems, like most greats, to have peaked in his twilight years.

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Champions who have courted controversy — from Serena Williams and Andre Agassi to Jimmy Connors, Lleyton Hewitt and even the game’s foremost outlaw, John McEnroe — have tended to win public sentiment in recent years as we realize we won’t see them again. “They’re going to miss him when he’s gone,” Alexander said.

So what’s the final verdict on Australia’s mutually successful yet tumultuous relationship with Novak Djokovic (from whom this masthead unsuccessfully sought comment via Tennis Australia)?

“If it’s not great, it deserves better,” Alexander said. “It’s not Roger Federer and it’s not Nadal. It’s Novak Djokovic, the greatest Australian Open champion of all time.”

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