Novax Djocovid

That's a terrible joke. I love Novac Djocovic. As a tennis player, that is. He's the current world number one and started his ascend in the rankings during the reign of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal; he's truly one of sporting legends...

Like most people who reach the pinnacle of their sport, Djocovic is a superstitious person who has certain rituals, strict self-imposed behavioral guidelines he adheres to. You know, like some football players wearing the same socks or underpants because they think it helps them to win. Djocovic, and other great tennis players, do certain things with their water bottles, hang their towel in a specific place in a specific way and so on; the ritual needs to be the same each and every time. I say this not to make fun of them; I'm sure these rituals help them greatly to get into what we call a "flow." They create for themselves a space that's familiar to them, to help shut out the outer world and enable them to fully concentrate on their own thing. Everything is automatic. Muscle memory takes over while the mind is in a tunnel that leads to the desired goal: victory.

Like I said, I love and respect Novac Djocovic as a tennis player, and I also admire the way he interacts with his young fans; he always makes time for the children and there are many videos online of him making these kids intensely happy. So I wasn't happy at all when I stumbled across a video that had his name spoofed like in the title of this post. But if I'm honest, it's correct. Djocovic has a history of adhering to a lot of pseudo-science and believes adamantly in the self-healing capacities of the human body. He stated that he cried for three days straight after he got elbow surgery in 2018, that he felt guilty for not letting his body heal itself. He shared his belief in some people using prayer to turn polluted water into healing water. And so on. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that Novac has been against traditional medicine, including vaccines, since long before the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Being anti-vax is one thing; sadly that's nothing special nowadays. But Djokovic took it a step further by organizing a tennis competition on his own, the Adria Tour, in June 2020, when all other professional sports around the world were canceled, with hundreds of fans attending, as well as some of the world's top tennis players, including Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. The event was canceled after just two of its proposed five legs after Djokovic, his wife, Jelena, and a number of players tested positive for COVID. During the 2021 Australian Open, which operated under strict measures designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, he wrote a long letter to the tournament's director with a list of demands that boiled down to abolishing most of the measures. The rest of 2021 was a great success for Djocovic, as he won Australia, the French Open and Wimbledon, which saw him win his 20th career Grand Slam to move level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the men's all-time leader-board.

This year's Australian Open has seen Djocivic's Covid related behavior sink to a new low. After a period of speculation as to him attending due to his refusal to publicly disclose his vaccination status, he eventually announced that he'll compete in Melbourne after he was granted a medical exemption that would allow him to play without being vaccinated. This is so wrong, sends such a bad message. You see, Australia has some of the strictest quarantine measures on earth, and many Australian citizens have been unable to travel between states, let alone outside the country. The decision to let Djocovic play is rightly seen by many as "a slap in the face."

Anyhow, as I understand it, this story isn't over yet; only 24 hours ago Novak's visa was reinstated, but it's still unclear if he'll actually be able to play: Australian Open 2022: Novak Djokovic gets visa reinstated, but tournament status still unclear. While we're waiting for that to be resolved, please watch the below linked video about the overlap between sports, wellness, quackery and conspiracy theories on one of my favorite YouTube channels called Medlife Crisis; this doctor always has something interesting to say about our Covid predicament. And I'll forgive him for not being a fan of Novak's tennis mastery, just this once ;-)

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