‘They would be sharpening their knives!’ Francis Maxwell calls out the bias towards Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka amidst the recent Novak Djokovic visa debacle
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Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams
All eyes around the world are currently on Novak Djokovic. The Serbian maestro is currently in a virtual battle with the Australian government over his visa issues. Tennis Australia had announced a few months ago that only vaccinated players will be allowed to compete in the 2022 Australian Open. But Djokovic wasn’t vaccinated and hence received a medical exemption to play the megaevent Down Under.
Everything was going on smoothly until Djokovic landed in Melbourne where he was detained on the airport and his visa was cancelled. But the Serb challenged the decision in federal court and won the case. He got his visa reinstated and was also added in the main draw for Australian Open. On Friday, the Immigration minister once again revoked Djokovic’s visa.
The world is divided on the current Djokovic scenario. While some believe that Djokovic was duly wronged, many claim that he’s receiving support despite being wrong just because of his fanbase. Many eminent personalities have come in the open and said that Djokovic has no right to disobey Australian laws and that he shouldn’t be allowed to play the Australian Open.
Many have also called out the double standards of tennis associations. A few days ago, ATP released a statement regarding Djokovic and how he has followed all rules. Scottish filmmaker and actor Francis Maxwell took to twitter to call out this bias. The same associations lashed out at top women’s players like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in the last two years.
Unjust treatment towards Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka
In the 2018 US Open Final, Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams to win her maiden grand slam title. But the final was one of the most controversial one in recent years. Serena received multiple warnings and eventually a penalty point from the chair umpire after which she got involved in an ugly verbal battle with him. She didn’t agree with the decision and felt that the chair umpire was accusing her of cheating which she never did.
Serena lost the match comfortably but never accepted that she cheated in the match. She received a lot of backlash for venting out on the chair umpire both from fans and tennis associations.
Francis Maxwell pointed out the same in a tweet and wrote about the double standards towards different players. “Let me say this, if Naomi Osaka, or Serena Williams acted in the way Novak Djokovic has acted in the past couple weeks- the tennis association would be sharpening their knives. They hung Osaka out to dry because she missed a couple pressers, meanwhile on Djokovic…(crickets),” he wrote.
“This blew up. Nothing to promote so I’ll double down: I remember Djokovic chiming in on Osaka skipping press conferences citing ‘following the rules’. I also remember every time Serena dare speak out about anything this is the type of response she gets. See the difference?“ Francis further wrote sharing a cartoon created on Serena.
He also mentioned the bias Naomi Osaka received last year when she announced that she won’t be doing press conferences during the French Open citing mental health. The WTA and Roland Garros authorities even warned Osaka of attending the press and threatened to default her. Naomi eventually withdrew from the tournament.
Also read: Rafael Nadal admits Novak Djokovic is the best but the Australian Open is bigger than any one player
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)