Novak Djokovic's Vaccine Stance & Visa Troubles

[MargaretMcAleer]

So the FO is going to stand on vaccine mandates, and last I heard the Italians, too, for Rome. The US won't be easy to get into. So the question becomes: how long does Novak put his career on hold for his stance on not getting vaccinated? We know he has strong feelings about natural healing. If you have been following him, you know that he was really broken-hearted to have to have surgery on his elbow, rather than heal it via rehab. But he did, finally, give in to surgery, for the sake of his career. Is it not the same to give in and get vaccinated, for the sake of his career?

Comfirmed today the Rome officials said if Novak does not comply with our rules he cannot play

 

[Moxie]

Comfirmed today the Rome officials said if Novak does not comply with our rules he cannot play

For the foreseeable future, it looks like Novak will be risking his ability to play tennis if he doesn't get vaccinated. As I mentioned above, he had a surgery that he didn't want to have in order to continue to play, so why not the vaccination?

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

For the foreseeable future, it looks like Novak will be risking his ability to play tennis if he doesn't get vaccinated. As I mentioned above, he had a surgery that he didn't want to have in order to continue to play, so why not the vaccination?

Surgery has more risks than a vaccine ,well he will have to really consider if he wants to continue playing tennis,because playing the full tour is now out of the question for Novak if he does not get vaccinated.

 

[rafanoy1992]

For the foreseeable future, it looks like Novak will be risking his ability to play tennis if he doesn't get vaccinated. As I mentioned above, he had a surgery that he didn't want to have in order to continue to play, so why not the vaccination?

I will say this: Getting deported by a country will probably force him to get the vaccination unless he truly believes his own cause (which is fine by me). We have 4 months to go until the FO so...

 

[10isfan]

I’m happy he’ll be forced to vaccinate. Whether he or anyone admits, anti vaxxers do look up to him and others to fuel their movement. Soon there will be one less person screaming about personal freedom.

 

[Moxie]

I will say this: Getting deported by a country will probably force him to get the vaccination unless he truly believes his own cause (which is fine by me). We have 4 months to go until the FO so...

I think he truly believes that he doesn't want to take the vaccination. That he's strong, and doesn't want to introduce this foreign thing into his body. Or whatever his stance is. BUT, the rubber has hit the road with vaccinations to play tennis across international borders. So, he either really can't do it, and risks sitting out at least the first half of the year, or he looks at his fellow tennis players, (unless we believe the Chardy story,) and says, it won't kill me, so I'll do it. Everyone else conforms to the rules to play tennis.

 

[MikeOne]

I think he truly believes that he doesn't want to take the vaccination. That he's strong, and doesn't want to introduce this foreign thing into his body. Or whatever his stance is. BUT, the rubber has hit the road with vaccinations to play tennis across international borders. So, he either really can't do it, and risks sitting out at least the first half of the year, or he looks at his fellow tennis players, (unless we believe the Chardy story,) and says, it won't kill me, so I'll do it. Everyone else conforms to the rules to play tennis.

Why wouldn’t you believe the chardy story? He a liar.??

i’m vaccinated and have had booster. The second and third shots knocked me out, meaning i had a fever and couldn’t get out of bed around 12 hours after the jab. It lasts about half a day so i just have that in mind and let it run it’s course. These vaccines are powerful

I believe in science, vaccines helped eradicate terrible diseases, like smallpox. Having said this, we have taken things to extremes. Covid has around a 1% or less mortality rate, or maybe a little higher. If elderly and vulnerable get their jabs, that should be focus. Forcing eveyone to take it is just way extreme, what’s next? Arrest people, restrain them and vaccinate them?

The whole djokovic situation will be regarded as outrageous as more time goes by. The man is a supreme athlete who has has covid before and by all accounts, didn’t get badly sick. It would make sense to force people to take covid tests before boarding a plane and after but to inject stuff inside their bodies? The fact is that djokobic was zero threat to anyone, they could’ve just tested him.. and he probably has natural Immunity. Also, the BS that is out there about vaccinated not spreading covid is anti-science. With over 200 million in US fully vaccinated, cases are higher than ever. In australia, over 90% are vaxxed and their is a surge. Vaccinated people are spreading and a lot.

not only was djoker not a health threat, he was let down and used by australian authorities who misled him, then turned their backs on him and deported him. They had to even change their stance and label him a threat to public order and anti-vax leader, which is total BS. He got deported on these baseless grounds as government could’t even back up their original case on grounds of him having invalid exemption.

djokovic has done good for australia, even donated to bush fire disaster and tried to help. He should be an idol and not some terrorist or public threat. Scott morrison and alex hawke know they did wrong and they will try to get djokovic to come back, but this is the nasty world of politics.. do what has to be done to win elections and deflect from your failures

 

[tented]

The Tarnished Legacy of Novak Djokovic

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

It looks like Italy and Spain are requiring vaccinations to enter their country, so definitely no clay tournaments in Rome and Madrid.

 

[10isfan]

I’m going to laugh when he finally gets vaccinated and realizes he could have done it earlier and spared himself the lost opportunities.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I’m going to laugh when he finally gets vaccinated and realizes he could have done it earlier and spared himself the lost opportunities.

Well this is where we see how deep his convictions are concerning vaccines.

 

[MikeOne]

The Tarnished Legacy of Novak Djokovic

Lol
I remember similar articles after his UsO debacle. No-one will remember this after covid is in the past….

10-20 years from now when a young child asks his daddy who goat was, they tell them ‘oh.. he was a Serbian tennis player who battled nadal and federer, two other greats, and ended up with all the records.’

and that’s that. One of the reasons i have supported novak is he has always been underestimated and disrespected. I vividly remember telling everyone back in 09-10 that novak had the goods to be great. People laughed it off as ‘look how how quits matches’ and he’s no rafa or fed but i knew! I remember justin gimelstob talking about how murray was so much better, that novak couldn’t even finish matches!
Then we saw novak get owned by rafa, fed for years… Once he dominating in 11, people started hating on him when novak - ‘ohhh sht!!!’ Then came injury, USO debacle.. his response? 1 match from calendar slam following year.

i eagerly await his response to this, novak is is a man who grows and gets empowered whencast aside, underestimated….

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I had someone argue with me that France, Spain, and Italy are taking a stand against the rich and entitled like Australia did. I was like I highly doubt France, Spain, and Italy are like let’s take down this rich jerk. I think it is more like let’s make our rules clear to avoid the ridiculous media and legal problems that Australia had.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

Lol
I remember similar articles after his UsO debacle. No-one will remember this after covid is in the past….

10-20 years from now when a young child asks his daddy who goat was, they tell them ‘oh.. he was a Serbian tennis player who battled nadal and federer, two other greats, and ended up with all the records.’

and that’s that. One of the reasons i have supported novak is he has always been underestimated and disrespected. I vividly remember telling everyone back in 09-10 that novak had the goods to be great. People laughed it off as ‘look how how quits matches’ and he’s no rafa or fed but i knew! I remember justin gimelstob talking about how murray was so much better, that novak couldn’t even finish matches!
Then we saw novak get owned by rafa, fed for years… Once he dominating in 11, people started hating on him when novak - ‘ohhh sht!!!’ Then came injury, USO debacle.. his response? 1 match from calendar slam following year.

i eagerly await his response to this, novak is is a man who grows and gets empowered whencast aside, underestimated….

This is much worse than the USO incident because while it was embarrassing at least everyone knew it was an accident. The recent events including seeing people when he was sick with Covid is at a whole different level. Chris Evert said that it's almost criminal and also reportedly Sponsors are looking into details on what they will do. Also being against vaccination is something that is looked upon on as selfish and not based on science. Despite your desperate efforts of trying to make him look good Djokovic's reputation is now at an all-time new low. The best thing you can do is to follow what your idol is doing which is disappearing for a few weeks or months in order to reflect on his mistakes, regroup and hopefully come back as a smarter person.

 

[MikeOne]

This is much worse than the USO incident because while it was embarrassing at least everyone knew it was an accident. The recent events including seeing people when he was sick with Covid is at a whole different level. Chris Evert said that it's almost criminal and also reportedly Sponsors are looking into details on what they will do. Also being against vaccination is something that is looked upon on as selfish and not based on science. Despite your desperate efforts of trying to make him look good Djokovic's reputation is now at an all-time new low. The best thing you can do is to follow what your idol is doing which is disappearing for a few weeks or months in order to reflect on his mistakes, regroup and hopefully come back as a smarter person.

This is your opinion and other haters… novak is hailed as a hero and many see him as someone who was mistreated very badly by australia, used as a political pawn. We will see where people stand in future.

and again, 10 years or 20 years from now, this is what will be said of novak:

‘daddy, who is greatest of all time?’

‘well, son, you missed out on a great era in tennis. There was federer, who was special and unstoppable, then came Nadal, who was ferocious and dominated clay. He was federer’s nemesis. They dominated for years and looked to be unstoppable. Along came a serb who beat them all and broke all the records. He was constantly disrespected, underestimated but that only made him stronger. His name was novak djokovic. It was such a great era and no-one can deny he was the greatest’

 

[Nadalfan2013]

‘daddy, who is greatest of all time?’

‘well, son, you missed out on a great era in tennis. There was federer, who was special and unstoppable, then came Nadal, who was ferocious and dominated clay. He was federer’s nemesis. They dominated for years and looked to be unstoppable. Along came a serb who beat them all and broke all the records. He was constantly disrespected, underestimated but that only made him stronger, his name was novak djokovic, no-one can deny is was the greatest’

This year Nadal will get #21 and the slam record all to himself, will take back the M1000 record too. He also has more career titles than Djokovic, slam h2h, multiple decimas, Olympics, Davis Cup, longevity records and tons of other achievements. Djokovic is finished. Djokovic won't have the 2 things that he wanted the most which is the slam record and the Olympics. Enjoy watching GOATdal. And he did it all without breaking one single racket, without disqualification and without deportation, a true professional.

 

[Moxie]

Why wouldn’t you believe the chardy story? He a liar.??

No, I'm sure he believes it. I'm just saying that there isn't enough information to know if the vaccination is the direct cause. According to L'equipe, Chardy got the jab between the Olympics and the USO. That's a span of about a month. He said he hasn't been able to train or play tennis. Except that he did play Cincy (lost first round to Sandgren,) and the USO (lost first round to Berrettini.) Those are hardly atypical results for Chardy, who runs hot and cold. I'd be curious to know what his doctor thinks could be the cause.

The whole djokovic situation will be regarded as outrageous as more time goes by.

It already is, but not solely for the way Djokovic has been treated.

The man is a supreme athlete who has has covid before and by all accounts, didn’t get badly sick. It would make sense to force people to take covid tests before boarding a plane and after but to inject stuff inside their bodies? The fact is that djokobic was zero threat to anyone, they could’ve just tested him.. and he probably has natural Immunity. Also, the BS that is out there about vaccinated not spreading covid is anti-science. With over 200 million in US fully vaccinated, cases are higher than ever. In australia, over 90% are vaxxed and their is a surge. Vaccinated people are spreading and a lot.

You can keep arguing these points, but you keep ignoring what the law is in Australia. That a recent covid exposure wasn't grounds for exemption for entry into Australia, a fact that Tiley was told twice by them, according to Margaret, and Tiley seems to have ignored it. Do I think that Tiley was playing it a bit fast-and-loose to get Novak in under the wire? Yes, I do. But Novak must have at least one lawyer on retainer, and they could have and should have investigated further on his behalf. Responsibility falls on the applicant for entry.

not only was djoker not a health threat, he was let down and used by australian authorities who misled him, then turned their backs on him and deported him. They had to even change their stance and label him a threat to public order and anti-vax leader, which is total BS. He got deported on these baseless grounds as government could’t even back up their original case on grounds of him having invalid exemption.

djokovic has done good for australia, even donated to bush fire disaster and tried to help. He should be an idol and not some terrorist or public threat. Scott morrison and alex hawke know they did wrong and they will try to get djokovic to come back, but this is the nasty world of politics.. do what has to be done to win elections and deflect from your failures

I don't see this as some conspiracy by all the Aussie authorities to mislead him. Craig Tiley wanted him in, and Djokovic relied heavily on that. As to the Fed, see above.

Novak has done good for Australia, but you can say the reverse is true, too. This quote is extracted from Bodo's article which Tented linked just above:

As columnist Malcolm Knox of The Age, a Melbourne newspaper, wrote in an assessment of Djokovic and his main enabler, AO tournament director Craig Tiley:

“For all the door-opening, the facilitating, the massaging of time slots and court locations, for all the super-VIP treatment, did Djokovic owe Tiley and the Australian Open something in return? Like getting vaccinated? Like understanding the consequences of trying to get into Australia on a tenuous basis? Or if not, like turning around and leaving Australia of his own free will, not because he thought it was fair or right, but because the reputation of the tournament that has given him nine trophies might benefit from it?”

 

[Moxie]

I had someone argue with me that France, Spain, and Italy are taking a stand against the rich and entitled like Australia did. I was like I highly doubt France, Spain, and Italy are like let’s take down this rich jerk. I think it is more like let’s make our rules clear to avoid the ridiculous media and legal problems that Australia had.

I agree with this. That countries that hold important tournaments/Majors are going to try to learn from the unfortunate experience in Australia. They need to decide what their policies are, and make them very clear to the players. Likewise, players are going to know that it is their responsibility to conform to the restrictions for entry into a country, not just a tournament. Travel is complicated right now, and tennis is an international sport. And an individual one. There is no team director to sort out your visa for you, as in say, soccer.

 

[Moxie]

Lol
I remember similar articles after his UsO debacle. No-one will remember this after covid is in the past….

10-20 years from now when a young child asks his daddy who goat was, they tell them ‘oh.. he was a Serbian tennis player who battled nadal and federer, two other greats, and ended up with all the records.’

and that’s that. One of the reasons i have supported novak is he has always been underestimated and disrespected. I vividly remember telling everyone back in 09-10 that novak had the goods to be great. People laughed it off as ‘look how how quits matches’ and he’s no rafa or fed but i knew! I remember justin gimelstob talking about how murray was so much better, that novak couldn’t even finish matches!
Then we saw novak get owned by rafa, fed for years… Once he dominating in 11, people started hating on him when novak - ‘ohhh sht!!!’ Then came injury, USO debacle.. his response? 1 match from calendar slam following year.

i eagerly await his response to this, novak is is a man who grows and gets empowered whencast aside, underestimated….

I don't think the USO DQ is going to be forgotten. Tennis fans have long memories, like all sports fans. And now everything lives on youtube.

You are far from the only person who thought ND had the goods to be great. @nehmeth was an early champion and much more frequent contributor here, and even Toni Nadal saw it, earlier than you say. You have every right to champion him, for being the Rodney Dangerfield of tennis, or whatever other reason you like.

I think everyone is curious to see how he responds. (Will he vaccinate? Will he play? How will he play?) The one thing I will debate as to your last comment is that anyone still underestimates him.

 

[Jelenafan]

This is your opinion and other haters… novak is hailed as a hero and many see him as someone who was mistreated very badly by australia, used as a political pawn. We will see where people stand in future.

and again, 10 years or 20 years from now, this is what will be said of novak:

‘daddy, who is greatest of all time?’

‘well, son, you missed out on a great era in tennis. There was federer, who was special and unstoppable, then came Nadal, who was ferocious and dominated clay. He was federer’s nemesis. They dominated for years and looked to be unstoppable. Along came a serb who beat them all and broke all the records. He was constantly disrespected, underestimated but that only made him stronger. His name was novak djokovic. It was such a great era and no-one can deny he was the greatest’

I actually agree with you that years from now the players records will stand as their book "legacy". By that same token, it will be interesting if he vaccinates and thus is able to play the claycourt circuit and the FO. He has an opportunity to be the only player to win all the Majors 3 times if he wins the FO this year, and IMO Novak is well aware of records/milestones he is capable of still achieving. Novak has been relatively injury free for most of his career and I've always said his physical body was custom-made to be a tennis champion (GUMBY indeed).

What happened at the AO is done. Can't go back. The rest of the year is another matter. One can debate the "fairness" of the AO decision until the cows come out, but looking ahead for the clay season and the FO, both France and Spain it seems are not going to give out exemptions for non vaccinated. I have no problems if for personal convictions or health reasons, Novak chooses not to vaccinate. At 34 there could be a narrowing window for him to build more his legacy in the tennis books, so I'm just curious as to what his decisions will be going forward.