The former coach of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic told former footballer Slaven Bilic that the Serb's position on COVID-19 vaccination was justified 
Djokovic's biggest challenge during this period came when he was deported from Australia for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, which also caused him to miss a number of major tournaments in the years following that high-profile incident in Melbourne in January 2022.
“Novak refused vaccination and was ready to end his career – no other top athlete would have made such a decision,” Ivanisevic said.
“The world condemned him, criticized him mercilessly, even humiliated him for standing his ground. But he never wavered, he remained true to his convictions. And now we discuss these vaccines and we are told that some of them caused problems. We were locked up like sheep for three years and manipulated.
During the pandemic, he publicly stated that this is a decision he makes for his body, that he knows it best, and that he doesn't want to do this. And he was willing to end his career because of this. He went all the way just to avoid getting vaccinated.
Novak never imposed his position. He never told anyone not to get vaccinated, he never told us not to get vaccinated. We all got vaccinated, but not him. Novak organized a tournament in Belgrade, helped other players get vaccinated, but he himself did not get vaccinated – and that is what he was criticized for,” Goran Ivanisevic noted.
btu.org.ua