bitchy | Novak Djokovic is still unvaccinated & his wife freaks out when people point it out

Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon this year. This was his seventh Wimbledon title overall and his fourth title in a row. It was also his first Slam title since he won Wimbledon last year. He lost in last year’s US Open final (as he tried to win the calendar Grand Slam) and then it all fell apart for him in January this year. He got into Australia under what seemed to be a falsified medical exemption for the Covid vaccine, then he was taken into custody and deported from Australia just before the Australian Open began. Then Novak lost to Rafa Nadal at the French a month ago. At no point has Novak gotten any Covid vaccine. This whole mess has made him dig in his heels and create a PR campaign around his anti-vaxx martyrdom.

What’s crazy is that Wimbledon might be the last Slam he plays until the French next year? Right now, America still won’t allow unvaccinated people to enter the country, which means no US Open for him (unless the US changes our travel restrictions this summer). No one knows if Australia will allow him to enter the country next January. It’s very possible that Novak stays unvaccinated and will only play the European slams now. What a completely stupid way to ruin your career, you know?

Anyway, one tennis journalist was tweeting about all of this, the travel restrictions for unvaccinated people and what looks like Novak’s inability to enter the US and Australia. Novak’s wife Jelena then entered the conversation and started tweeting dumb sh-t at the journalist:

Excuse me. Just making sure that it is noted that YOU tagged him as antivax poster boy for whatever reason you have. He simply responded what HIS body choice is.

— Jelena Djokovic (@jelenadjokovic) July 10, 2022

You are creating a very judgmental narrative that fits your agenda. He is simply choosing what’s best for his body. If he is not playing because of making that choice, he is fine with it.

— Jelena Djokovic (@jelenadjokovic) July 10, 2022

I can accept judgmental.

I believe every citizen, especially public figures, had a duty to act responsibly with public health actions and messaging during the pandemic, and as someone who has covered Novak as the influential champion he is, he repeatedly disappointed me deeply.

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 10, 2022

Jelena was literally tweeting from the Wimbledon Championship dinner! What’s even crazier is that I watched a lot of the tournament and the American and British commentators barely even talked about Novak’s anti-vaccine stance. Whenever John McEnroe mentioned it, he sounded entirely sympathetic towards Novak and made it sound like countries should break their own rules to allow unvaccinated people like Novak to just stay unvaxxed and travel freely. My point is that, for the most part, the establishment-tennis narrative was already whitewashing and excusing Djokovic for being massively irresponsible and anti-science. And now the story is Jelena freaking out when a journalist makes a series of factual statements: Novak probably won’t play in the US or Oz; Novak has become an icon to anti-vaxxers; Novak’s rationale for refusing to take safe and effective vaccines is a huge asterisk on his career.

Djokovic says “I’ll wait hopefully for some good news from USA because I would really love to go there. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible.”https://t.co/uzdvFzXngA

— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) July 11, 2022

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.