Star’s wife Jelena thanks fans for voicing their support

NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S wife Jelena has expressed her gratitude to the player’s fans for ‘using your voice to send love to my husband’ as he remains held in Australia in a controversial row with authorities over a Covid-19 medical exemption. The Serbian is in a quarantine hotel in Melbourne awaiting the outcome of an appeal against the decision by the Australian Border Force (ABF) to cancel the reigning Australian Open champion’s entry visa and deport him. In Instagram and Twitter posts marking Christmas in Serbia, Jelena Djokovic wrote:

‘Thank you dear people, all around the world for using your voice to send love to my husband. ‘I am taking a deep breath to calm down and find gratitude (and understanding) in this moment for all that is happening. ‘The only law that we should all respect across every single border is Love and respect for another human being. ‘Love and forgiveness is never a mistake but a powerful force. Wishing you all well!’ There was a small crowd outside the Park Hotel yesterday, where someone who gave her name only as Tatjana told the PA news agency the tennis player ‘doesn’t deserve to be in this refugee camp’. She added: ‘I’m here to support Novak, to set him free, because I think he doesn’t deserve what the Australian government has done to him. ‘It’s not true when they said in the media that they treat everyone equally. ‘So I’m here to support him and I will always support my Serbian people because we’ve been through so much in the past. ‘And I think that Novak doesn’t deserve to be in this refugee camp — and I don’t think you’ll see any other tennis player in this refugee camp.’