‘Another sponsor gone?’ Novak Djokovic might lose deal with Lacoste over anti-vaccination stance
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Novak Djokovic
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic has had one of the most difficult seasons this year and it has very little to do with his on-court results. The entire episode in Australia where his decision to remain unvaccinated saw him get deported out of the country and banned from entering for the next 3 years. That also meant he had to give up his hattrick of Australian Open titles without any title defence.
He remained inactive during the first three weeks of February as well making his season debut at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships where he lost in the quarter-finals having won his matches in the first two rounds. The defeat meant that he was no more the World No. 1 as Daniil Medvedev‘s run to the semi-finals in the 2022 Acapulco Open during the same week saw the Russian take the top spot.
Amidst all of this, Djokovic’s long time deal with automobile company Peugeot also got cancelled. While the company ended the partnership saying that the Pandemic made their financial situation weak, many people doubt that given Djokovic’s criticism for staying unvaccinated caused the deal to be ended between the two ending a partnership that began in 2014 while he also parted ways with coach Marian Vajda who had coached him from 2006.
The speculation over the deal with Lacoste emerges after the brand signed up former World No. 1 Venus Williams who ended her deal with Nike to sign up with the French company. Novak’s current deal with Lacoste is paying him $9 million with the deal extended till 2025 a few months ago after it was initially signed in 2017 with Novak leaving Uniqlo to sign up with Lacoste.
Novak Djokovic’s troubles at Indian Wells
With the Tour now moving to the 2022 Indian Wells Masters, the tournament continues to have the Serbian’s name in the entry list. He has however been informed well in advance that given his non-vaccinated status, he will not be allowed to enter the United States.
Despite this, the tournament issued a statement saying, “Novak Djokovic is on the tournament entry list, and therefore is placed into the draw today. We are currently in communication with his team; however, it has not been determined if he will participate in the event by getting CDC approval to enter the country.”
However, at the same time, his lifesize cut out on the famous ‘We Miss You’ Wall has already been put up along with Ash Barty and Roger Federer, giving a variety of mixed signals.
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Sarthak Shitole
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