The world’s number 1 is perhaps the most famous, powerful and media exponent of the anti-vaccine movement, beyond tennis. His arrival in Australia, knowing the obligation to have received the necessary doses to enter the island and his refusal to apply them, caused an unimaginable schism: is the Serbian angel or devil?
It is true that Djokovic received a medical exemption to compete in the first Grand Slam of the year – it begins on January 17 -, but an error in his claim, plus the dispute between the government of Victoria – the state where Melbourne is located – and the federal administration left him exposed. After being detained in a hotel, his visa was revoked, which was returned last Monday after an untimely trial after five days of isolation.
“Nole” is already training at the Australian Open venue pending the final decision on his visa. At the moment he won the legal battle, but there is another in which the result does not look so favorable. Contrary to what the saying goes, the best tennis player in the world turned gold into mud.
The last 15 years were dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, the Big 3, winners of 20 Grand Slams each. Unlike the other two, the one in Belgrade is in a moment of plenitude, with the possibility of breaking all records. However, the Australian scandal reconverted its image: Before being the best in history, he became a public enemy for much of the planet, with the exception of the exponents of the anti-vaccine movement, who intend to erect the leader of the ATP ranking in a martyr of a cause set against time for the era in which we live.
Djokovic went from the “arrest” that his relatives denounced to a small partial triumph in the Australian court, to later confess to having been infected with Covid-19 a second time and accept that he violated isolation. The athlete himself recognized it in an attempt to curb “misinformation.”
Before his lawyers managed to stop the deportation, in different media around the world, led by the prestigious French newspaper L’Equipe, they reported that the Serbian had tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16 last. Despite this, on the 17th he was at an event and on the 18th he participated in a photo session for the gala publication.
In a post on his Instagram account, the 34-year-old Serbian posted: “We are living in difficult times with a global pandemic and sometimes these mistakes happen”. What was the mistake of the nine-time Australian champion? Share an event with boys in Belgrade on December 17, despite not having the result of their PCR (the antigen test had been negative) and a day later, after the positive, grant an interview to L’Equipe “so as not to look bad with the journalist”.
Djokovic acknowledged his mistake in participating in the note and the photo session. But the chain of failures did not start there. Long before the end of the year Tennis Australia warned that to play the first Grand Slam of the season you had to be vaccinated, a requirement sine qua non imposed by the national government. Despite this, the Serbian continued with his anti-inoculation stance and hid from its contagion to justify the lack of applications. He had never reported that he had Covid-19 until this scandal.
He is not the first to star in “Nole.” In June 2020, he organized the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition tournaments in the Balkans in the midst of a pandemic in which there was no social distancing and no chinstrap was required. Many tennis players and collaborators were infected, including Djokovic himself. As a result of them, the friendly tour had to be suspended.
“I am vaccinated, with Pfizer. It makes me happy for all the trips I do; I did it above all for others. I do not want to infect another person. We must be very careful”, he had told Federer in May 2021. A clear sign of responsibility in times of self-care and towards others.
Djokovic represents a national hero for Serbia, a territory punished by war and that found in the tennis player a worldwide diffuser of the nation. However, in the last few hours, Ana Brnabic, Prime Minister of the Balkan country, assured that if the idol went out instead of isolation it was a “clear violation” of the laws, which would imply punishments ranging from a fine to prison.
On the other side were his relatives. Srdjan, his father, even compared him to Jesus Christ: “They are crucifying him in the same way.” A defense that seems excessive, almost messianic, for a figure who stands as a public opinion maker in times in which, by defending freedom, one can incur serious irresponsibility.
Source From: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
