Novak Djokovic swallows another guilty verdict in the court of public opinion as players and coaches test positive from his exhibition tennis event over the weekend.
Embattled world No. 1 Novak Djokovic accomplished something in the past four months I would have thought impossible. He managed to behave so irresponsibly that the public dislike that has dogged him for more than a decade has now morphed into outright disdain–and I can’t believe I’m going to write this, but it’s hard to blame said public right now.
I have long taken the tennis community to task for what I perceived as unwarranted animosity for a great champion. I’ve said that we have been unfair to Novak. As recently as March of this year, I published a column calling his unpopularity unfair and disrespectful. To be honest, I hate like hell that I have to write this entry, but the truth is the truth.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the particulars, the bonfire Mr. Djokovic lit under his reputation this year started with an Instagram Live in which he said (in Serbian) “Personally, I am opposed to vaccination” and went on to say that he would have to make “a decision” if the ATP enforces compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in order to play.
Since I don’t speak Serbian and I figured there was an outside chance he didn’t literally mean he was opposed to vaccines and was victim of misinterpretation, I left it alone.
Not content with just being an anti-vaxxer though, Djokovic had to throw more fuel on the fire. Enter the Great and Powerful Oz–otherwise known as Chervin Jafarieh. Djokovic and Mr. Jafarieh engaged in a truly bizarre discussion on Instagram Live later in the lockdown about how thinking positive thoughts can change water molecules and turn polluted water into fresh water and spoiled food into good food. Now THAT is the power of positive thinking. Throw away your refrigerators and water filters! Food safety need not concern you any longer!
If you’re interested in participating in the water molecule revelation, you can purchase some special potions on Chervin’s website that will help you be smarter AND healthier. Just don’t look behind the curtain.
I wish I was making that up.
And now our current world No. 1 is at least partially responsible for a COVID outbreak at his Adria tour exhibition events that took place across the Balkan peninsula over the past week or so. He threw a player party, encouraged no social distancing protocols–and now Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric, Viktor Troicki and his pregnant wife, and two coaches are all COVID positive.
Djokovic himself left Zadar, Croatia where the other players in the event stayed to get tested. He said he didn’t feel he needed to be tested since he was experiencing no symptoms (I guess he changed his mind, because he was tested in Belgrade on Monday night). I just…don’t even know what to say about that. He could be asymptomatic or worse, pre-symptomatic. It’s beyond comprehension.
Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t absolve any of the players or coaches who tested positive. It’s not all Djokovic’s fault. They elected to not social distance wear masks or take any precautions. They put their grandmas and grandpas at risk. They have culpability for their decisions. But Djokovic is the PRESIDENT OF THE ATP PLAYERS COUNCIL. He is the world No. 1. He has Nick Kyrgios of all people dressing him down for not taking protocols seriously.
It’s just impossible not to be disappointed.
Before even wasting any time reading the article, I knew from the title this was a ‘Cheryl Murray’ piece. So completely unaware that other individuals hold different views from her own. And even if she did, any other view is wrong, of course. Dont hyperventilate from your fear mask when you wear it to bed tonight
Djokovic makes such great Kool-Aid!
This response shows the ignorance that it still out there. The best health experts in the world have says that wearing face masks saved lives. For someone like myself who is in the high risk category for this virus, it is imperative that I take precautions. I need others to do the same and stop being stupid and selfish. This is not a virus to take lightly. Too many people have died and are continuing to die.
It is not a fear mask. It is a mask that can prevent the spread of a terrible virus. One may not agree with everything that Cheryl writes, but her blogs are well written and express her point of view beautifully.
what drugs did you take before writing your response Ad-rock? or are you just stupid? its not an opinion to say it was foolish to go ahead with the adria tour disregarding any need for social distancing… Not once does the article demean or degrade the opinions of others as you seem to claim.
You are a serious part of the problem if you seriously believe that masks are ineffective. Obviously no one is wearing the masks to bed, you potato. If you can’t understand simple numbers and statistics .. if not the basic science that is publicly available, all I can say is you are an idiot.
Open your eyes
another good one by Cheryl
Excellent article Cheryl. Bravo! The truth is the truth whether people like it or not, period. Infact you were being too nice and generous with djokovic. His behavior since this past four months has been beyond abysmal. He is not partly responsible, he is 100% responsible. Even though the other players and coaches etc were foolish enough to not follow protocols, Djokovic organized this useless event in the first place, he encouraged their foolishness and he led by example. He’s the one that started this mess. If he did not organize this event and/or led by good example with social distancing and wearing face masks and other protocols, this would have never happened.
Don’t get me started on djokovic’s “I don’t believe in vaccinations” mantra. I have no words for such incomprehensible idiocy.
Djokovic is the world number 1 and president of the players council. With that comes great responsibility including being an ambassador for the sport. His words and actions carry great weight and influence globally bc tennis is a global sport. Covid 19 is a deadly disease and troicki’s pregnant wife (among who knows how many others) has it and somebody in this comment section is offended bc Cheryl wrote this article. Truth hurts. Cheryl wrote pure facts and TRUTH.
Djokovic is a legend and a great champion, maybe even the future GOAT. But I have always believed that the dislike djokovic has been getting for so many years is warranted. With these recent terrible blunders, that dislike has now grown to complete and utter contempt and in my humble opinion it is RICHLY DESERVED.
Save some contempt for Tennis Channel, which broadcast this farce, even though they knew better. (No, I did not watch it. I was not THAT starved for live tennis!) Add in more contempt for his fan-boy and -girl apologists for whom their hero can do no wrong. Being great at sports just does not make you a great person. History is full of examples, sadly.
Novak Djokovic put out a statement a little while ago saying that he and his wife have tested positive for Covid 19. Their children tested negative. That’s all it said.
He *needs* to apologize! I’ve said before that his biggest problem is his inability to ever admit that he was wrong. We’ll see now if he can manage that.
Yes, I just saw that. I don’t think he’s going to apologize. He seems to be sticking to his line that he was in compliance with Croatia and Serbia’s policies. You’d think it would have pinged on his radar that perhaps he wasn’t doing the right thing when Montenegro told them they couldn’t come because they weren’t being careful enough.
Sigh.
Looks like djokovic shot himself in the foot at the popularity sweepstakes🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️
Yeah, it’s a complete disaster on about 4 different levels. The health disaster is obvious, but it’s a PR nightmare, too. He dug a nice, deep hole for himself.
WTH is wrong with the man? Dimitrov and Coric both apologized for any harm they may have caused in their statements. It’s really not that hard! (Although I admit my eldest son found it very painful – when he was 3 years old back in 1970). About the best anyone has come up with so far is “He had good intentions”. That’s what the road to hell is paved with.
The chances of main tour tennis this year are looking bleaker by the minute…
why? the real tour will have much different protocols.
But if it goes ahead,how many of those infected will recover and be playing? A lot of top players missing potentially.
I’m afraid the USO is going to face big problems still. With covid-19 cases continuing to escalate in the US, the EU may ban or quarantine US citizens from entry and if EU players travel to the US they may face quarantine on return, which will play havoc with those who want to participate in the Euro clay season.
South America isn’t looking good either. Brazil is a disaster area. Australian players are sounding less than enthusiastic. Are we really going to see a USO with only American players?!? Roland Garros could hold their slam with only Euro players and it’d still have a lot of credibility. The USO not so much.
Us open is going to happen no matter what. And the protocols they have in place are absolutely the way to go.
Djokovic has apologized for his actions. I don’t agree with how the Adria tour was held without regard for social distancing but the reality is life has to go on.
If you are under 40 and healthy, Covid has a less than a 0.1% mortality. Of course not everyone fits that bucket but you can’t stay in lockdown forever.
I’m not defending how the Adria tour was conducted but my personal view is the cost of staying in lockdown mode is too expensive and we need a sensible return to normality. Djoko went too far but it was an attempt to return to normal within the countries guidelines.
I don’t support his anti vaccine thoughts but everyone who attended the Adria tour is an adult. It’s not a simple equation to say lock everything down forever and save lives
There is no need to stay in lock-down forever. If everyone on the planet were to practice ultra-strict social distancing for 2-3 weeks, the virus would basically die out. This is the simple truth about the novel coronavirus that underlies the social distancing advice.
That may not be possible for developing countries such as India that have hundreds of millions of desperately poor people. They do not have stocked pantries and literally must go out to find food each day to survive. But for any wealthy country like the USA, it is absolutely possible. In fact, that country has already spent about 6 trillion dollars on Covid-19 stimulus: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/15/coronavirus-economy-6-trillion/
That amounts to over $18,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. Instead of wasting most of the stimulus like they did, they could have cut everyone a check for that amount, which is obviously enough to allow the average person/family to pay for food and rent for a couple months, at least. That’s all they had to do, and the virus would be just about gone. In theory they still could do it. But talk about ‘locking everything down forever’ is a total red herring.
JS, that sounds great in theory but will not get close to 100% compliance to make that plan effective. You can’t even get people to wear masks in the US, you think they will stay out in their homes for 3 weeks??
My opinion: If Trump had listened to Fauci and the science, ramped up testing early, promoted mask-wearing, etc., you’d have much more compliance in the US, because all of his followers would do the same thing. Combine that with large direct payments to citizens and it would be enough to make a huge difference from where the country is now. (My elderly parents in Minnesota basically haven’t left their house for months). And, to be honest, if he’d done that, he’d probably be coasting to re-election.
The problem is Covid is relatively harmless for those <40 if you are healthy. So getting that demographic to adhere to a strict lockdown with 100% compliance is in my view quite impossible in the US. Yes I agree with you, Trump could have done a much much better job of communicating the importance of masks and listening to experts which may have helped…but I don’t count on trump doing sensible things.
But I digress from tennis. Here’s hoping for a safe US open!
Novak has apologized, im not a fan of his, but I can appreciate that he has a good heart, and I doubt people can make him feel any worse than he already does, he was just trying to cheer us all up with some much missed tennis, and raising money for charity at the same time, its not like he twisted the other players arms to take part, I did cringe when I heard about this, especially when I saw the lack of social distancing in the stands, and the partying (what were they thinking ?), maybe doing this without crowds would’ve been better like in football, although you cant turn the clock back, whats done is done, I only wish Novak, his family, and all the other players infected a speedy recovery, stay safe people, please take this seriously ,this virus kills ….
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My comments are disappearing ?
fixed. it’s up now.
Thanks Ricky 🙂
JS all very simple, but we don’t live in that sort of world unfortunately ….