"He's popular in Australia and has a big fan base" - Australian Open tournament director on welcoming Novak Djokovic back to Melbourne

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley revealed that he is looking forward to welcoming Novak Djokovic to the country next week.

Djokovic, who has won the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam nine times, was not allowed to play in the event in 2022 due to his vaccination status and was deported just days before the start of the tournament in January.

While speaking to the Times Of India, Tiley revealed that the Serb has a huge fan base in Australia and will be the favorite for the event as he was playing his best tennis.

"We are focused on welcoming Novak back," said Tiley. "He arrives next week. He's playing an event in Adelaide and then plays the Australian Open. I talked to him a lot during the year, he's a great champion. He's playing the best tennis and is going to be the favorite coming in. He's popular in Australia, and he has a big fan base."

The Aussie pointed out that it had been a difficult couple of years for the tournament and also reflected on the deportation saga of the former World No.1.

"The last two years have been very difficult for everyone across the world, not just the Australian Open," revealed Tiley. "If you take a step back and look, those circumstances were beyond our control. That situation, would we have preferred for it not to happen? Absolutely. We would've preferred for it not to happen. Did we do everything we could've possibly done at the time? Yes, we did."