DJOKOVIC. After winning Wimbledon in July, Novak Djokovic withdrew from the US Open on August 25, 2022. Opposed to compulsory vaccination against Covid-19, the Serb maintains his positions, whatever the cost…
He was able to participate in Roland Garros in Paris and won his 7th Wimbledon this summer, his 21st Grand Slam tournament. Novak Djokovic will however be deprived of the US Open. The fervent opponent of the anti-Covid vaccine, banned from traveling to the United States, announced this Thursday, August 25 that he was forfeiting the tournament. Rumors of a withdrawal had intensified in recent days, with the Serbian’s vaccination status posing a problem for US authorities.
After’Australian Open which had been the subject of a slump at the start of the year, this is the second Grand Slam tournament that Novak Djokovic will miss this season. Government regulations in the United States prevent anyone who has not been vaccinated from entering the country. The US Open is scheduled to start on August 29 and end on September 11.
Novak Djokovic displayed an ambiguous position as soon as the coronavirus appeared in Europe, expressing his doubts, in April 2020, about vaccination, then envisaged to allow the resumption of tournaments. “Personally, I’m not for vaccines. I wouldn’t like someone to force me to get vaccinated to travel,” said “Nole” at the time. “I am opposed to vaccination against Covid-19 in order to be able to travel. But if it becomes compulsory, I will have to decide whether I do it or not”, he nevertheless nuanced at the time. “I have my own opinion on the matter, will it change at some point, I don’t know.”
Since then, Novak Djokovic’s opinion has been radically refined. The opposition to the compulsory vaccine, at first timid, quickly became assumed and even sometimes displayed, which ultimately earned it the nickname “Novax”, with the support of the antivax movement around the world. A meeting with the Bosnian conspiratorial preacher Semir Osmanagić, close to the antivax, will be decried for a time in the Balkans, some authorities believing that with his words, Novak Djokovic alone slowed down local vaccination campaigns.
During the Turin Masters at the end of 2021, Novak Djokovic again went into the net against compulsory vaccination: “we should have the freedom to choose, to decide what we want to do. In this particular case, what we want inject into the body.” Later, as summer approached, he publicly described the health protocol put in place for the 2021 US Open as “extreme”. York.
The Adria Tour, scandalous tournament
The Serb had meanwhile created controversy in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, by organizing the Adria Tour, a tennis and charity event, during which several participants (Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric, Viktor Troicki) as well as Djokovic himself and his wife Jelena had tested positive for Covid-19. These contaminations quickly triggered a flood of criticism from players in the tennis world. Lack of physical distance, hugs, farandoles with children, wild dances in a Belgrade nightclub… The images of the first stages of this Adria Tour, in Belgrade and Zadar, in the midst of a global pandemic, had indeed shocked, in particular this video captured in a nightclub in Belgrade:
On January 5, 2022, Novak Djokovic arrives on Australian soil with the firm intention of participating and winning the Australian Open. While the vaccine is mandatory to participate in the tournament, he benefits from a medical exemption which authorizes him not to be vaccinated. Tested positive for coronavirus in December, he thinks he can circumvent the rule then in force. But at the airport, the world number 1 is arrested by the border police who refuse him entry into the territory, believing that he does not sufficiently justify his medical exemption. His visa was then cancelled. The next day, the Serb was placed in detention and it was finally on January 10 that Judge Kelly lifted the visa cancellation, considering that he was unable to provide more information to the border police. He also orders his immediate release after 5 days in solitary confinement.
The Djokovic controversy did not stop there: the Australian government, via Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, let it be known that it was going to assess the possibility of using his “personal power of cancellation”. This decision is finally made on Friday 14 January. Novak Djokovic will not participate in the competition.
Novak Djokovic will speak a few weeks later, not far from Roland Garros, to justify himself. At the microphone of the BBC in mid-February, he assured: “I have never been against vaccination, but I have always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body”. The Serb, considering that the “decision-making concerning [s]y bodies are more important than any title or anything else”, then said he was ready to miss Roland-Garros and Wimbledon “Yes, that’s the price I’m willing to pay”. In the end, two other tournaments will fail him.
Meditation, water, energy… Djoko, a fan of the paranormal?
If many voices in the world of tennis (Nadal, Kyrgios), as in the medical world have criticized the positions of Novak Djokovic, certain personalities have pleaded the cause of “Djoko”. This was still the case with John McEnroe before the US Open 2022 on ESPN: “Politicians interfere way too much! It was already the case in Australia; Let this guy come into the United States and play the US Open. Come Oh! This is all ridiculous.” American player and non-vaccinated, Tennys Sandgren also supported Novak Djokovic: “It’s shameful that the American Federation does not fight for an exemption for Novak. I can play and not him? Ridiculous.”
Srdjan Djokovic, the father of Novak Djokovic also supported him several times in these positions, with more emphasis, finding in his son “the symbol and the leader of the free world, the world of nations and poor and oppressed peoples even “the Spartacus of the new world which does not tolerate injustice, colonialism and hypocrisy”.
Novak Djokovic has been dragging behind him for several years the image of a follower of pseudoscientific practices and precepts, bordering on esotericism, in addition to an irreproachable lifestyle and a strict diet. The abandonment of gluten in 2014 would have allowed him, according to his own words, to boost his career but also to change his life. In 2015, the Serb even launched his own brand of gluten-free cookies, with the “Djokolife” range. In his book “Serve to win”, published in 2013, the world No. 1 also explained practicing meditation and yoga exercises.
A few years ago, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Novak Djokovic used an egg-shaped chair for his physical preparation and recovery. A device called CVAC Pod which simulates physical exercises at altitude, by increasing the level of oxygen in the blood. On social networks in 2020, Novak Djokovic stood out by extolling the “powers of prayer and gratitude” on the production of energy by the body, the purification of toxic food or polluted water. ..
Who is Novak Djokovic? Express Biography
Novak Djokovic was born on May 22, 1987 in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. He started tennis very early at the age of four, a sport where his idol was the American Pete Sampras. Son of Srdjan and Dijana, “Nole” has two brothers who also play tennis: Marko and Djordje. Considered one of the best players in the history of the yellow ball along with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic has won 21 Grand Slam titles, one less than the Spaniard. Since the start of his professional career in 2003, he has won 88 tournaments and amassed over $158 million in earnings.
Novak Djokovic is considered one of the most complete players on the circuit. On a court, the Serb can both defend and attack and his ability to return opposing serves allows him to often take the upper hand in exchanges. He is also one of the most technical players where his anticipation, his reflexes, his cushioning and his wide range of tennis are formidable. His ability to adapt to all playing surfaces is one of “Djoko’s” strengths.
Novak Djokovic met Jelena Ristic during her school career in Belgrade in the early 2000s. Not everything was easy for the young lovers, since Novak played his tournaments all over the world while Jelena completed her studies in Italy. The couple finally took up residence in Monaco and decided to get married in 2014. Jelena gave birth to their son Stefan in 2014, then to a little girl named Tara, in 2016. At the same time, Jelena Djokovic is director of the Novak Djokovic foundation, which the promotion of education in their native country.