"I have never experienced something like this in my career and my life" - Djokovic on the emotional toll from his Australian Open visa saga

Novak Djokovic has revealed that the scars of his 2022 Australian Open controversy did not end with the tournament, but stayed with him for months after the incident in January.

The Serbian tennis great stated that his family also experienced a lot of pressure from the outside world. Djokovic was deported from Australia after days of legal proceedings and faces a three-year ban from entering the country. The Serb played just one tournament (in Dubai) until April and made a comeback on tour during the European clay-court swing.

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The 21-time Grand Slam champion, who is working on his Paris Masters title defense this week, spoke to Tennis Channel's Prakash Amritraj on the sidelines of the tournament and opened up about the Australian Open saga that continued for much longer than expected and affected his family. He declared that the experience was very unusual for him.

"Months after Australia I was really emotionally challenged," Djokovic said. "All the stuff that was happening off the court, people's pressures on me and my family has been tremendous. I have never experienced something like this in my career and my life, and it was very unusual. I tried to deal with it in the best possible way."

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The Serb said that he expected to leave the Australian Open ordeal behind in Australia, but it stayed with him long after he left the country, went back home, and even during the first few months of the European swing. Apart from being asked about it time and again, he said that he could even hear people in the stands talking about his coronavirus vaccination controversy while he played matches.

"When I came back to Europe from Australia, I thought it was behind me and I'll move on, but it really wasn't ended there," added the 35-year old. "It just kept going for months and months, people would ask me about it all the time. You can hear people in the stands or in the city mentioning those things."