Will it be Novak Djokovic versus President Joe Biden at the U.S. Tennis Open this year?
Sounds crazy, no?
But that’s the way it’s shaping up for the now seven-time Wimbledon champ and 21-time Grand Slam winner in the running for greatest of all time in his sport, and whose real competition should be Rafael Nadal, not a politician.
After winning that seventh Wimbledon (and fourth in a row), he should be heading to the USA on a high to play the Western & Southern tournament in Cincinnati and then the Open.
No so fast, Novak Djokovic.
Unvaccinated, Nole, as he is called, isn’t allowed to enter the USA to play any of these tournaments or a game of tiddlywinks, for that matter. He could, however, go to Canada to play in their Open, where he would apparently be welcome. At this point, he could even go to Australia from whence he was unceremoniously booted from playing in their Open earlier this year for his vaccination status, but not here.
Not in the supposedly democratic U.S. of A.
It’s as if Djokovic were in a game of symbolic Australian doubles, two against one, with his opponents being Biden and the self-proclaimed “Mr. Science” himself, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The good news is in that symbolic sense at least, Djokovic, a known battler, is winning.
This is all happening at a moment when many more people from the medical profession and in the public at large are evincing skepticism of the mRNA vaccinations, indeed, in many instances suggesting that they have done more harm than good.
Meanwhile, a monomaniacal administration refuses to back down on its oppressive tactics where medical freedom is concerned, extending those policies any way they can, even to our children.
This will bring yet greater attention to the 2022 U.S. Open that begins in New York on Aug. 29.
The likelihood that Nole will bend and take the vaccination before the event is nil. Although he has made mistakes like most of us, he’s a man of principle, especially where his body is concerned. He’s the true representative of “Our body, ourselves,” not the infantile protestors making fools of themselves chasing Supreme Court justices.
ESPN quotes him as follows, “I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter the United States or exemption.”
If the United States Tennis Association and the U.S. government continue to forbid Djokovic to play, the event will have an asterisk next to it the size of Brooklyn. In fact, in many ways, it will be pointless.
American tennis legend John McEnroe, never shy with his opinions, exclaimed, “This is ridiculous” about the banning of Djokovic on the television broadcast immediately after the Serb’s Wimbledon victory.
Yes, Djokovic is a privileged person, an extraordinarily rich and famous athlete. But if he can’t avoid these strictures, who can?
What’s especially interesting here is that he’s becoming a human inflection point in this struggle. Previously, a number of fans disliked Djokovic because, the argument went, he wanted to be liked too much. That argument has dissipated in light of his determined stance.
Every time he plays now, we and the rest of the audience have to reflect on his honorable determination, acknowledged by his Wimbledon finals adversary Nick Kyrgios, once a fierce critic.
So, even as we properly bemoan the constant invasion of politics into sports, we who favor medical freedom must cheer Djokovic in his symbolic Australian doubles against Biden and Fauci.
If he’s victorious, we are all victorious. It will be and already is his greatest achievement, even if Nole goes on to win 25 Grand Slams and plays himself into the record books, never to be erased.
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