Beyond the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic risks losing big and coming up against obstacle after obstacle with his decision not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Until jeopardizing the rest of his career?
The Novak Djokovic position (34) is all the more delicate as it is an ultra-minority: 97% of the top 100 are vaccinated, according to the ATP. In its only statement on the Djokovic case to date, the organization that governs the men’s circuit “continues to strongly recommend vaccination” to the players and even considers it “essential“so that tennis”can exist with the pandemic“. His expulsion from Australia, unanimously endorsed by the Australian Federal Court on Sunday, could thus only be the beginning of powerful headwinds for “Nole».
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In the immediate future, it deprives him of playing on his favorite playground, he who has triumphed nine times in Melbourne, and takes him away, at best, from his ultimate quest: that of the Grand Slam coronation record, which he currently shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (20 major titles each). It also jeopardizes its place as world No. 1. Two players have the means to dispossess him at the Australian Open, on the condition of winning there: Daniil Medvedev (n°2) and Alexander Zverev (n°3).
I think he is making a big mistake by not getting vaccinated. A mistake that threatens the rest of his career and his chance to establish himself as the greatest player of all time.
Boris Becker
However, the end of the Australian tour will probably not end the problems for Djokovic. Far from it, in the opinion of Boris Becker, six-time Grand Slam winner and ex-coach of the Serb. “I think he is making a big mistake by not getting vaccinated. A mistake that threatens the rest of his career and his chance to establish himself as the greatest player of all time“, alarmed Becker in the Daily Mail. “It’s not just Australia. (…) The world has changed, and it will be very difficult for him to lead the life of a professional tennis player around the world without vaccination, warns the German. Maybe one day things will get back to normal, but at 34, he doesn’t have much time left to achieve his goals.»
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In the current state of health constraints, and in an itinerant global sport, it is an obstacle course that awaits Djokovic throughout the season. Without being exhaustive, entering the United States, where not only the US Open but also three of the nine Masters 1000 are played, promises to be mission impossible: full vaccination is compulsory for foreign travelers and exemptions very rare. A previous infection with Covid-19, for example, is not one of them. If Roland-Garros opened the door ajar for Djokovic under a health bubble, through the voice of the French Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu, “all i would say is i believe in vaccination and i think it is a wonderful thing“replied British Prime Minister Boris Johnson when asked about the Wimbledon tournament.
Three years without Australia?
«Novak is going to have to find a way to get vaccinated or else he’s going to face this problem far too often to play and win more Grand Slams, which is his ultimate goal.“Said the 2013 Wimbledon winner, Marion Bartoli, to the BBC. Even in the event that the pandemic no longer dictates such health restrictions, the horizon will not necessarily clear up for Djokovic. To cancel his visa for a second time, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke applied a provision of Australian law which in theory implies a ban on entry to the country for three years. “Except in certain compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia“In particular, specify the local authorities.
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«Djoko” could not then set foot in Australia again until he was 37 years old. Where will his tennis career be at that age? Djokovic has “very firm convictions, explains Becker. The same incredible determination with which I have seen him win so many close matches can become a vulnerability through his stubbornness.» «We have been through and we are going through very difficult times around the world with this pandemic. There is a solution, this solution is the vaccine, that’s all“Slice Rafael Nadal from the Australian Open. “Will Novak take this step? Asks Becker. I’m not sure of it. (…) If he does not, in ten years he will understand that he made a mistake.»
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