Welcome to the Wacky World of Novak Djokovic: Anti-vaxxer tennis superstar is a tree-hugger who insists Bosnia’s ‘pyramids’ give off mystic energy and that positive thoughts can PURIFY water
Novak Djokovic is denied entry into Australia after officials rejected player’s visa
After an airport stand-off which lasted hours, the Government cancelled his visa
He applied for a visa that doesn’t support vax exemption on medical grounds
It is just the latest controversial episode in the life of the 34-year-old tennis star
Novak Djokovic’s status as one of this century’s greatest athletes is undisputed – not a description that could ever be applied to his views on health matters.
The fanatical quest to continually improve himself as a tennis player is mirrored by an obsessive curiosity about how best to curate his physical and mental well-being. At times it has dragged him into the realms of faddism and quackery, sometimes dangerously so.
Indirectly, this endless search led him to the immigration detention room at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport, where Wednesday’s surreal drama played out.
For now he will remain locked up in a refugee detention hotel after the Federal Court ruled his appeal to be let into the country ahead of the Australian Open would be adjourned until Monday. Lawyers on Thursday appearing for the world No 1 appealed to Judge Anthony Kelly to review the decision made by the Department of Home Affairs to deport him.
Where Djokovic goes, controversy often follows. It is due to his curious mix of passion, fierce intelligence and temperament, and a sometimes stunning lack of self-awareness.
This latest episode stems back 36 hours to his triumphant-sounding announcement that he had circumvented vaccine requirements for an undisclosed reason, and was heading for Australia.
The cocksure nature of his social media post was ill-judged, and invited the ire of a population who have been subjected to more lockdowns than anywhere in the world. He possesses not just an extraordinary athletic ability, but a giant pair of tin ears.
This brutal collision with public opinion – not to mention opportunistic Australian politicians – has been a long time coming, a course plotted since the onset of the pandemic.
Soon after it broke out he took part in a live Facebook discussion with other Serbian sportspeople.
‘Personally I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,’ he said. ‘But if it becomes compulsory, what will happen? I will have to make a decision.’
The roots of his beliefs on health are entrenched beyond Covid, back to the beginning of the last decade. It was then that he diagnosed himself as having a wheat allergy by pressing a slice of bread into his stomach.
Always a profound thinker with a sharp mind – he has taught himself to converse in seven languages, for example – the more success he has had, the more interested he has become in the workings of body and spirit.
In 2016 he began working with Spanish coach Pepe Imaz, a strong believer in meditation whose theories extend to, literally, the power of hugging trees. He instituted the ‘peace and love’ gestures that accompany the Serb’s post-match victories.
When Djokovic began developing elbow problems the following year he tried holistic cures before eventually opting for conventional surgery. He later revealed that he cried for three days afterwards, at his failure to solve the issue through natural medicine.
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