Serbian Novak Djokovic confirmed suspicions that he has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, although he went much further: he is willing to ruin his successful tennis career.
“Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay,” Djokovic said during an interview with the BBC in which he explained what happened at the recent Australian Open, in which he was unable to compete due to the decision of the country’s authorities.
Djokovic said he does not consider himself part of an anti-vaccine movement and explained his reasons for not immunizing against covid-19.
“Because the principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.”
The non-vaccination means for Djokovic, most likely, not playing the majority of tournaments in the 2022 season, in which his ambition was to continue adding Grand Slam titles and break the 20-20-20 tie in terms of trophies he has with Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
Instead, what happened is that Djokovic spent a week struggling to get into Australia only to be deported. The Australian federal authorities considered him a public health danger as a possible enhancer of the anti-vaccine movement.
And while Djokovic flew back to Serbia, Nadal went on to win the tournament to win the Australian Open for the second time in his career, his 21st Grand Slam.
The world number one does not rule out the possibility of getting vaccinated in the future. He says he has an “open mind” in that sense: “We are all trying to find collectively, a best possible solution to end Covid”.
He added: “I was never against vaccination. I understand that globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus.”
Djokovic complained that Australian authorities never asked him if he was anti-vaccination.
Djokovic’s statements to the BBC, the first to a newspaper after the Australian scandal, imply a strong pressure for the Grand Slam tournaments that in principle will miss his presence, but also for the ATP, the governing body of men’s tennis, and for the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
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