Tennis superstar believes that Novak Djokovic will be extremely hungry and will do everything possible to win Australian Open 2023 and exorcise his ghosts from last year. 

The Australian Open gets underway on January 16 and Djokovic will take on Roberto Carballes Baena in the first round. It goes without saying that the Serb will be at the centre of all attention in Australia this time around. 

He faced an extremely embarrassing episode at this event last year after he was deported from the continent because of his vaccination status, or rather lack thereof. 

Djokovic has talked on multiple occasions about the humiliation and mental trauma he faced as the episode unfolded. However, after much consideration, he has decided to take part in the first Grand Slam event of the year.

Surprisingly, Djokovic found plenty of support from an unlikely corner last year. Nick Kyrgios, who was previously known for his tempestuous relationship with some of the big names in tennis, including Djokovic, publicly supported his cause during the deportation incident which was a trying time in the career of the 21-time Grand Slam winner.

This resulted in the relationship between the 2022 Wimbledon finalists becoming more cordial. In a recent interview with The JBK Show, Kyrgios touched upon this topic and described how what Djokovic had to go through last year in Australia was extremely unfair and how it had affected him mentally.

The 27-year-old also added that the uncertainty surrounding his participation at the Australian Open last year only made the Serb’s resolve even sharper and it has made him hungrier for titles and more accurate with his game, having won five of his six recent tournaments, including the 2022 Wimbledon.

“Yeah. It’s (Australian deportation) probably the worst thing tennis could have done to him. Because now, he is just hungry. Every event he’s playing, he does – he knows that he might not be able to play next week – so he’s gonna do everything he can to win that tournament. 

He’s almost harder to beat now,” Nick Kyrgios said.

An Australian himself, Kyrgios also spoke about how his public support of the nine-time Australian Champion helped break the ice between the duo and was crucial in building a rapport between them.

“Yeah, we chat a lot now. At the end of the day, if you defend someone, you know, in real life situations where you know, you expect people to stand up for you. No one else did but me. And now, he was really thinking there’s no chance that Kyrgios (will),” the 27-year-old recalled.

“No one’s supposed to be treated like that – whether you are a tennis player or not, (or) from another country,” he added.