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For years he has been looking for more recognition. In the corona year Novak Djokovic had several opportunities to polish up his reputation. With the confirmation for the upcoming US Open, he missed another match point for this project. A comment.
The ATP tour has been on hold since the end of February due to the corona pandemic. As in countless other areas, the tennis stars take note of this with understanding – some more, the other less grudgingly.
At the beginning of the compulsory break, Novak Djokovic made no secret of the fact that he is relatively relaxed about the Corona issue. The world number 1 recognized itself in the last few months as a staunch opponent of vaccinations and was one of the organizers of a controversial show tournament in his home region in Serbia, where he himself, along with other top players infected with the virus. And at the planned Grand Slam tournament in the Corona hotspot New York (start August 31), what bothers him in advance is that the athletes do not have to stay in Manhattan, but near the airport if they participate.
Anyone who criticizes him is put in their place with flimsy arguments. “Everything happened with a pure heart”, said the 17-time Grand Slam winner about after the fateful Adriatic Tour.
Now he justifies his Participation in the US Open quite simply with the desire to play again – “because it appeals to me”, he said. One can expect a somewhat wiser statement from the President of the ATP Players’ Council. One that also reflects the opinion of most of his colleagues, but that is once again not the case with Djokovic.
On the contrary. With his trip to the USA, he stabbed the majority of his colleagues in the back and once again went his very own, selfish path in terms of role model function as a top athlete. Last but not least, Djokovic confirms that he will never reach the size of other tennis legends who are still active or who have already resigned – even if he should win 50 Grand Slam titles. For that, Djokovic simply lacks empathy.
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