‘Sports and politics never go hand-in-hand’ The tale of Novak Djokovic being robbed in his prime due to politics


‘Sports and politics never go hand-in-hand’ The tale of Novak Djokovic being robbed in his prime due to politics

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is arguably one of the greatest players to have played the sport. With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, he has taken tennis to newer heights. He can also be considered one of the most consistent players of all time and is currently a lot fitter, stronger, and at a better place age-wise in comparison with Federer and Nadal. With age on his side, he is also projected to break the all-time grand slam record which he currently trails by 2 majors.

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Amidst everything, Djokovic may also be one of the unluckiest players given all the things he has had to go through this year. To start the season, he was denied entry into Australia due to his vaccination status. He was first permitted to enter the country, but upon arrival, the Immigration minister canceled his visa and after a 10-day long tussle with the Australian government and judiciary, he was eventually deported from the country which meant that he wasn’t allowed to defend his Australian Open title. This meant that he not only missed the opportunity to go up against his arch-rival Rafael Nadal, who ended up winning the Australian Open but also lost 2000 points that he was supposed to defend.

To make things worse, Djokovic wasn’t even allowed to enter the USA and hence was forced to miss the Golden Swing too. This meant that he played just one tournament in the first three months and as a result, was visibly rusty in the initial parts of the clay season. He won his maiden title of the season in Rome but then lost to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinal of the French Open. Because he wasn’t able to defend his French Open title, he lost more than 1500 points at Roland Garros and lost his World No.1 spot.

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Novak Djokovic set to lose over 3000 points at Wimbledon and US Open

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic

To make things worse, he won’t be able to defend his 2000 points at Wimbledon due to no fault of his own. Wimbledon decided to ban Russian and Belarussian players from this year’s Championships and stand up against this injustice, ATP and WTA decided to scrap ranking points for this year. Adding to that, points from last year won’t be frozen and hence players will lose all ranking points from the 2021 Championships and not gain any this year. Djokovic, as a defending champion, will lose a mammoth 2000 points. Djokovic is projected to drop out of the top 5 for sure and could end up as low as No.8 on the ATP Rankings after Wimbledon even if he wins the tournament.

As things stand at the moment, the USA doesn’t permit unvaccinated people to enter the country which means that Djokovic’s year will only get worse. August will mark the start of the US summer hardcourt stint which Djokovic will be forced to miss. This means that he won’t be able to play at the Washington Open and the Cincinnati Masters. He also won’t be able to participate in the US Open according to the current ruling which, to his dismay, means that he won’t be able to defend 1200 points from last year when he finished runner-up. In that case, he will drop out of the Top 10 without no real fault of his own.

A player, who is in his prime and competing for tennis greatness, is being denied basic rights and moral high grounds due to various political reasons. Sports and politics have never gone hand-in-hand, and they never will. Amidst everything, it is Djokovic who will lose out the most and the worst part is he can’t even do anything, other than sit and watch things fall apart.

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