Criticism of Djokovic: "The last one to take any advice from"
When Novak Djokovic landed in Adelaide late last week, it wasn't long before he was the center of controversy again.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jan 18, 2021, 02:17 pm
No sooner had Djokovic and other tennis professionals completed the usual entry formalities in the capital of the state of South Australia than the column was loaded onto several minibuses. When leaving the airport, however, cameramen were able to capture a telling picture: In the car of the world's number one, all occupants wore the mandatory mask, only he himself, the record winner of the Australian Open (eight titles), looked out without covering his mouth and nose Eyewitnesses to the scene.
It hasn't gotten much better for Djokovic, the world tennis star, whose reputation outside the tennis boundaries had already cracked significantly in 2020. Djokovic's latest caper on the fifth continent, before the first rallies in the Grand Slam spectacle Down Under, now caused considerable collateral damage across the entire tennis contingent. After ordering a regular quarantine for 72 players, the 33-year-old Serb felt called upon to make an astonishing catalog of demands on the Australian Open management - it sounded as if the 17-time major winner was acting on behalf of the traveled traveling circus. The points that Djokovic warned for the players who had to go into isolation because of infections on several charter flights included a shortened quarantine period, relocation to private properties with training facilities and better meals.
Reactions to Djokovic's demands: "Are you serious?"
The reactions in Australia, plagued by new and tough lockdowns for months, fluctuated between harsh ridicule and open outrage - up to and including the demand on social media platforms to expel Djokovic immediately from the country. Victoria's Prime Minister Dan Andrews, who had given permission for the Grand Slam tournament to start after lengthy poker negotiations, hurriedly stepped in front of the cameras and quite bluntly hurled at the Serb that “nobody” from the tennis business had the right to make such demands.Regarding the content of the Djokovic paper, the head of government said: "None of this is even up for debate."
Djokovic's former professional colleague Sam Groth, now a TV expert and newspaper columnist, said gruffly: “Are you serious? This is a selfish step in gaining popularity with gamers. If you take his behavior on the Adria Tour last year as a yardstick, during which numerous players were infected and the virus was spread, he is the last person from whom you should take any advice. "
Indeed, Djokovic's intervention was embarrassing for the tennis column, who could consider themselves lucky to be able to hold their first major competition of the season - despite huge intercontinental travel complications . And despite the fact that around 40,000 Australians are still desperately waiting to return home due to severe entry restrictions. How Djokovic could appeal to appeal for new privileges for the tennis players, who were already privileged, was "unbelievable", according to an editorial in the daily newspaper The Age in Melbourne.
Continuation of Djokovic wrongdoing
Some might have had forbearance with the Belgrade-born man if it had been a one-off verbal slip, a literally isolated slip, a single questionable escapade. But in truth it was just the continuation of a whole series of abnormalities, sometimes negligent, sometimes deliberate misconduct against scientific findings.
Djokovic's penchant for esoteric charlatanry became just as aware of the public in 2020 as of questionable social behavior that culminated in the fact that he instigated an uprising against his own players' union, ATP, in the middle of the pandemic and right before the start of the US Open last autumn - and founded a new interest group . Later he added to his personal damage balance of the season, which had started with the heavily criticized exhibition series in his Serbian homeland, the disqualification in New York, caused by a line judge shooting the ball .
The long-standing professional player Rennae Stubbs (Australia), one of Steffi Graf's oldest friends and companions, gave Djokovic in particular, but also the rest of the tennis caravan, good advice, namely to "keep your mouth shut and concentrate on the sporty things": "Anyone who is allowed to fly around the world these days and still earns a lot of money should consider themselves lucky," says Stubbs, "and think of those who are far worse off."