John McEnroe backs Novak Djokovic for Australian Open title after 'absurd' 2022 deportation fiasco
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Updated 14/01/2023 at 22:24 GMT
Novak Djokovic returns to the Australian Open looking to win his tenth title in Melbourne as well as his 22nd career Grand Slam. The Serbian is back after missing last year's tournament after being deported due to his vaccination status - something John McEnroe says was 'outrageously bad'. Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.
Watch as Djokovic tries to distract Kyrgios during point in Melbourne match
John McEnroe has backed Novak Djokovic to put the "absurd" situation surrounding his deportation at the 2022 Australian Open behind him and win the tournament this time around.
Djokovic was controversially detained upon arriving in Australia last year and was denied entry into the country at customs due to his vaccination status, causing him to miss the tournament.
The Serbian was back in action at the French Open where he reached the semi-final and triumphed at Wimbledon to claim his 22nd Grand Slam title.
However, there was further disruption to his season as he was forced to miss the North American swing in August including the US Open, again, due to being unvaccinated against Covid-19.
With rules relaxed this year allowing him to compete, McEnroe believes Djokovic will be determined to win the title for a record-extending tenth time.
“He's certainly the favourite in my book going in," he said. "Obviously, there's got to be a lot of emotions going through his head, that's for sure. It was one of the craziest years I've ever seen any athlete go through, and certainly in our sport.
“So of course, he wants to prove that he's still got it, and it looks like he's still got it to me and to most guys, so it wouldn't surprise me.”
McEnroe also gave Djokovic credit for sticking to his principles amid the fiasco and believes it demonstrates the kind of single-minded determination that has made him so successful.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was also highly critical of the decision to deport the 35-year-old last time out, and praised him for seemingly keeping his cool over it.
“You have got to give him credit for sticking to his guns," he said. "You know, it's incredible that he's really refused to sort of cave in and it cost him. Maybe it cost him having the all-time record grand slams, we don't know yet. We'll have to see how it plays out.
“But you can see how mentally tough he was just having to deal with all this starting with Australia where he was deported. That was a year ago. A lot has gone on since then.
“I think you can see a little bit of where, when he gets in his head to do something, it's pretty tough to get him to alter what his thinking is. And so now, he's in the right frame of mind. Something tells me he's going to be pretty tough to beat there.
“He made a decision that most players wouldn't have, including myself.
“I respect that he stuck with it because he still was able to win Wimbledon. Then he couldn't play the [US] Open. I mean, it's crazy what happened. So I'm glad to see it sort of calm down now.”
He added: “It'd be hard not to be angry. The fact that he seems to be in a good headspace is great and he's sort of forgiven the tournament or whoever, the Australian authorities because that was absolutely outrageously bad when I think what happened.
“Absurd in my opinion, and he got denied an opportunity to win an event that he won a lot of times, so thankfully, it seems like that's gone away”.
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