Eventually, vaccines became available and a debate ensued about requiring tennis players to get inoculated, to protect themselves, tennis fans and tournament organizers, since the tours are an 11-month journey around the world. Djokovic was adamantly against this. He has long said vaccination is a private and personal decision that should not be mandated.
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This placed him at odds with his chief rivals, Federer and Nadal, who are vaccinated. Just last month, Nadal said he did not have a position on a mandate but deferred to the experts who said vaccines were the best way to protect everyone.
“I don’t pretend to know more than what the authorized people say,” Nadal said last month during his preparation for the Australian Open in the United Arab Emirates. He tested positive for the coronavirus upon his return to Spain. “If the people who really know about it say that we need to be vaccinated, who I am to create a different opinion?”
Throughout last year, the WTA, the professional women’s tour, and the ATP, the men’s circuit, did not require a vaccination, though players often have had to adhere to staying within a strict bubblelike environment as they hopscotched the world.
But then the Australian Open announced the vaccine would be required to gain entry into the country. Djokovic’s father referred to the mandate as “blackmail.” A confrontation between tournament organizers and the king of Rod Laver Arena appeared inevitable, producing mixed emotions at the top of the game.
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Djokovic’s absence would make it easier for his rivals to win. But while he is not exactly close with Federer or Nadal, Djokovic is extremely popular among many top players, including leading members of the so-called next generation, like Alexander Zverev of Germany, Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who also happen to be his neighbors in Monte Carlo.
“Hopefully the Australian government will make an exemption or whatever it is that they can do for him to be able to participate there,” Zverev said in November at the ATP Finals in Italy.