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Australian Open: Djokovic's drinking bottle mystery? - "Waterdrop" is the solution

Former world number one Novak Djokovic is accused of breaking the rules of the Australian Open with a "mysterious" drinking bottle. Completely wrong.

by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Jan 24, 2023, 11:32 am

© Getty Images
Novak Djokovic also uses the plastic-free drinking bottles from the Viennese company "Waterdrop" at the Australian Open

Resourceful tennis observers believed that they had noticed a mysterious and possibly illegal scene in Novak Djokovic's Australian Open third-round duel against Frenchman Enzo Couacaud. Because during a change break, the nine-time Melbourne Park champion had an "ominous" drinking bottle including a label delivered from his box. A clear violation for many spontaneous hysterics - if not against good manners, then probably against the requirements of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

However, the prosecutors simply had not read the tennisnet article from last Tuesday, which reported on the Serb's new cooperation with the Austrian scale-up company "Waterdrop". The up-and-coming company not far from Vienna's famous Mariahilfer Strasse has been cooperating with Djokovic since the end of last year, who will not only appear as a brand ambassador for "Waterdrop", but has also invested in the company himself and would subsequently also like to work on special products.

Not every mosquito becomes an elephant

The fact that "Nole" used a "foreign bottle" to fill up the body's water balance is basically correct, but the southern Slav also has official approval for this from the tournament organizers in Australia. The purpose of the "Waterdrop" products is to completely avoid plastic, both in the drinking bottles and in the flavoring drops, which is a more than noble request in view of the pollution of our planet and the associated climate crisis.

And as for the part with the note - and the implied unauthorized contact of the coaching staff with his protégé. Such critical information is unlikely to have been written on it if you hand it and the bottle to an official of the tournament, who then has to carry it across the entire field to the player. A hand signal would have been more harmless.

In short: Novak Djokovic - like all other players - is welcome to be critically questioned from time to time, but not every mosquito becomes an elephant.

Here is the men's tableau from Melbourne.

by Stefan Bergmann

Tuesday
Jan 24, 2023, 12:45 pm
last edit: Jan 24, 2023, 11:32 am