Whether you are a tennis fan or not, the soap opera Novak Djokovic in Australia has inevitably gone up in your ears. A case, as long as a Grand Slam tournament, which never ceased to experience new twists on the background of vaccination. Until its epilogue, this Sunday, when the Australian federal court rejected the appeal of the player, who will have to be expelled from Australia.
Since January 4 and his first Instagram post revealing his exemption permission to travel to the land of kangaroos, the world has been following day after day the evolution of the Serbian’s chaotic trip to the other side of the globe.
A few hours before an Australian Major which begins on Monday, we can already quantify the impact that the “Djokovic Affair” has had on the image of a world number 1 who has never unleashed passions so much. According to a survey conducted by Odoxa for Keneo and RTL, carried out on the Internet on January 12 and 13 on a sample of 1,005 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, including 376 tennis fans, 85% of French people have heard talking about this soap opera (95% of tennis fans), 64% of them not understanding the position of “Novak”.
“Novax”, a nickname that may stick to his skin
Worse still, this affair, which has gone beyond the simple framework of tennis to the point of having diplomatic repercussions, is degrading the image of Novak Djokovic for more than half of those polled (55% of French people, 60% for tennis fans). . They are only 6% and 9% to affirm that it improves it. For 39% of French people and 31% of tennis fans, this does not change the image they have of him.
In a gloomy health context, his position is indeed incomprehensible for almost two thirds of French people (64%) and tennis fans (62%), who seem to have little taste for the commotion around the Serbian (derogation, hidden trips, administrative approximations…).
In a poll carried out last November, the 34-year-old was already not the favorite of the French, who favored his two rivals more on the circuit Rafael Nadal (42%) and Roger Federer (33%). “Novax”, his new nickname, was only cited by 20% of them (23% among tennis fans). Whatever its epilogue, this affair may well confirm its status as an ugly duckling in the pantheon of tennis.
