Mike Dickson, a veteran journalist who had been covering sports for the Daily Mail since 1990, has died while covering the Australian Open, his family and the tabloid newspaper confirmed. He was 59.
Mr. Dickson suddenly collapsed and died last week at the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, Australia, according to his family. He was just days away from his 60th birthday.
At this time, it is unclear what exactly caused Mr. Dickson’s death.
“We are devastated to announce that our wonderful husband and Dad, Mike, has collapsed and died while in Melbourne for the Aus Open,” the Dickson family wrote in a Jan. 17 statement on his X account.
“For 38 years he lived his dream covering sport all over the world,” they added. “He was a truly great man and we will miss him terribly. Lucy, Sam, Ruby and Joe.”
Lee Clayton, the Daily Mail’s Global Publisher for Sport, paid tribute to his colleague in a statement, saying Mr. Dickson was “everything you want a correspondent to be—a brilliant news hound, a terrific writer and a friend to so many in his sport. The world of tennis will join us in mourning.
Many notable people in the sports community, including tennis champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, also expressed their condolences to Mr. Dickson and his family.
Critic of Novak Djokovic
Mr. Dickson was a cricket correspondent at the Daily Mail before moving to tennis. In an article announcing his death, the newspaper said he covered more than 30 different sports across nearly 50 countries in total.Although the longtime journalist was generally respected and viewed as a vivid writer for his sports-related work, Mr. Dickson gained attention at the height of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for his critical views on Mr. Djokovic’s decision not to get vaccinated against the disease.
Through various articles and on social media, he denounced Mr. Djokovic’s decision and claimed that the Serbian tennis star had tarnished his public image for refusing to take the shot.
In one of his articles, he claimed that Mr. Djokovic had “TRASHED his reputation beyond repair,” while in another he wrote that he could “ruin his chances of becoming the GOAT by refusing to take the vaccine.”
Other headlines included: “Welcome to the Wacky World of Novak Djokovic: Anti-vaxxer tennis superstar is a tree-hugger who insists Bosnia’s ‘pyramids’ give off mystic energy and that positive thoughts can PURIFY water.”
“Condolences to Mike Dickson family. Rest in Peace,” the tennis star wrote.
“I’ve always represented and supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body and for me, that is essential,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Djokovic performed a master class against Adrian Mannarino 6–0, 6–0, 6–3 on Jan. 21 to reach the quarterfinals at a major for the 58th time, equaling Roger Federer’s Grand Slam record.
“I really wanted to lose that game in the third set, because the tension was building up so much in the stadium,” Mr. Djokovic said in his on-court interview.
“I just needed to get that one out of the way so I can refocus on what I needed to do to close out the match. I played great, from the first to the last point,” he continued.
