Novak Djokovic 'underestimated' emotional impact of Australian Open visa saga

Novak Djokovic has opened up on the "mental and emotional" toll his ordeal in Australia caused him. The world No 1 had his visa cancelled twice before eventually being deported on the eve of the Australian Open, and admitted he "underestimated" the impact the saga would have on him when he finally returned to tennis months later.

Djokovic spoke at length about the effect of his deportation in Australia, which came after two stints in a government quarantine hotel and two appeal hearings, with the Serb winning the first to have his visa reinstated but losing the second after the Immigration Minister revoked his visa for a second time. Speaking to Tennis Channel on Thursday after Andy Murray was forced to pull out of their Madrid Masters match unwell, he said: "At the beginning when I came back from Australia I must admit that I was a little bit, maybe underestimating the emotional state that I was in."

The 20-time Grand Slam champion did not end up starting his season until the end of February, winning his first two matches in Dubai before falling to qualifier Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals. His next appearance came at Monte Carlo last month, where he crashed out in his opening match to make it back-to-back defeats for the first time since July.

Explaining that the Australian visa saga had still been taking a toll without him expecting it, Djokovic said: "I thought 'you know, I'm out of Australia, it is what it is, what happened happened, I'm moving on'. But then I did feel for the months to come, the emotional and mental traces of what was happening there were still there. And I just felt maybe in the last few weeks I started to get out of that a little bit and move on and transform that into fuel and positive