England cricket icon Kevin Pietersen has demanded that the Australian government apologises to Novak Djokovic following his deportation from the country in 2022. A remarkable ordeal saw Djokovic removed from Australia having refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Pietersen also claimed that Djokovic was “onto something” in his refusal to be jabbed against the virus. He took to social media platform X in the wake of news that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was being pulled from distribution.

AstraZeneca have stopped the production and distribution of the vaccine due to a decline in demand as a result of new vaccines that more closely match the mutated forms of the COVID-19 virus that are now circulating. In some rare cases, the vaccine caused blood clots that were sometimes fatal.

Former England batsman Pietersen believes Djokovic is owed an apology from the Australian government. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was controversially deported ahead of the 2022 Australian Open.

“It’s time for every single person [who criticised Djokovic] and the Australian government to issue an apology to Novak Djokovic now,” Pietersen wrote.

“I think that would be fitting as he went through HELL! It seems he was onto something…”

Djokovic entered Australia unvaccinated while the country was enduring tough border restrictions during the pandemic. He initially believed that he had been granted a medical exemption to defend his title in Melbourne.

But after an ugly legal battle, immigration minister Alex Hawke, who harbours wide-ranging powers, decided to deport the world No. 1. Djokovic, who insists he is broadly pro-vaccine but thinks people should be free to make their own choices, said later that year: “You can’t forget those events, it’s one of those things that stick with you.

“It stays with you for the rest of your life. It’s something I’ve never experienced before and hopefully never again, but it is a valuable life experience for me. But I have to move on and coming back to Australia speaks about how I feel about this country and how I feel about playing here.”

Djokovic was initially given a three-year ban from entering Australia. However, he had that overturned and has since competed at the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open tournaments. He won in 2023 but was defeated by Jannik Sinner in the final earlier this year.

The Serbian star has not won a title in a frustrating year. He will hope to end that barren run at the upcoming French Open, where he will bid to defend the title he won in 2023.