Australian Open 2021: 'I don’t know if I’ll go to Australia' - Novak Djokovic expresses fears over hard quarantine

Novak Djokovic has aired fresh concerns over travelling to Australia to defend his Australian Open title, claiming he would be uneasy about being asked to quarantine for 14 days.

The Serb is at the centre of a whirlwind of speculation over whether he has or has not been vaccinated.

Djokovic has refused to divulge his vaccination status - and it is front and centre once again following mixed messages emanating from Australia.

The country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said unvaccinated players would be welcomed into the country, but be required to do 14 days of hard quarantine in a hotel room before being eligible to play at the Australian Open.

Morrison’s statement was countered by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews, who said anyone who is unvaccinated would not be allowed onto the grounds of Melbourne Park.

There’s likely to be a lot of mileage left in the story before the event gets underway in January, but an interview from Djokovic has emerged which casts doubt on his participation.

The 20-time major winner gave a wide-ranging interview to Serbian newspaper Blic, and the 34-year-old spoke about his travel fears.

“The main problem is that if you’re on a plane with a person who is [Covid-19] positive, whether they’re vaccinated or not, you automatically [have] to stay in your room for 14 days,” Djokovic said. “That happened to Viktor Troicki in January this year. Not only him but 70 players had to be in [hard] quarantine. I’ve talked to a lot of players and that’s remained a bad memory for everyone. So I don’t know if I’ll go to Australia. I don’t know what’s going on. Currently, the situation isn’t good at all.”

The Australian Open gets underway in Melbourne on January 17.