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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDjokovic is another whiny sports superstar with an exaggerated sense of entitlement
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Max Boot
@MaxBoot
If Djokovic is Spartacus (as claimed by his father), then Im Rod Laver.
In truth, Djokovic is another whiny sports superstar with screwy ideas and an exaggerated sense of entitlement.
Opinion | Djokovic is another whiny sports superstar with an exaggerated sense of entitlement
I hope that Australia deports him and that he will not be allowed to enter the United States to play the U.S. Open unless he presents proof of vaccination.
washingtonpost.com
1:35 PM · Jan 8, 2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/08/djokovic-vaccines-entitlement/
No paywall
https://archive.fo/jFVWL
Star athletes in todays world are demigods. They are paid obscene amounts of money for playing childrens games. They are breathlessly interviewed on TV. Their personal lives are chronicled on social media. Their presence is desired at every party and charitable event. They are constantly sought after as friends, investors and romantic partners.
It can be very easy under those circumstances to lose your head to imagine that, because you are so good at playing your sport, you must also be an expert in matters far removed from it. Hence the phenomenon of star athletes such as the NFLs Aaron Rodgers and the NBAs Kyrie Irving who refuse to get vaccinated, suggesting that they think they know more than the entire medical establishment about how best to fight covid-19.
Add Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic to the list.
Over the past two decades, he has made a strong case that he is the tennis GOAT the Greatest of All Time. He has won 20 Grand Slam titles, creating a three-way tie for the record with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the other two contenders for the Greatest title. But Djokovic has a winning head-to-head record against both Federer and Nadal, and he is younger than they are, so the odds are that he will soon surpass their feats.
I was in the stands at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2019 when Djokovic saved two match points against Federer and went on to win another Wimbledon title in a five-set thriller. No one in the history of tennis has been better than Djokovic in clutch points. He must have veins full of ice water.
*snip*
LoisB
(7,222 posts)zuul
(14,628 posts)per social media.
malaise
(269,157 posts)Hope they kick him out
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)😀😀.
Vamos Rafa!
He beat Federer in a 5-set nail biter finals match (Wimbledon ?) a long time ago and he got my attention.
Of the three, on behaviour alone, Rafa is the sportsman.
And for ME, that makes him the GOAT.
Even if he never wins another title and even if Federer goes on to win more, and Novak certainly has it in him to win more.
BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)LisaM
(27,821 posts)On top of everything else, he's left-handed (at least for tennis).
LisaM
(27,821 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 8, 2022, 11:52 PM - Edit history (1)
Long before the COVID thing, I found his chest-thumping and lack of grace on court -the way he snarls - off-putting. This latest behavior doesn't surprise me in the least.
If this helps Rafa, so be it. Djokovic has only himself to blame.
Karma13612
(4,554 posts)Shows unbearable arrogance. I originally thought he wouldnt get so far. I thought his antics would get in the way of him concentrating on his game. He has gotten more mature, but has replaced his playful court antics with arrogance.
Its unbecoming and not sportsmanlike.
RandPaulsNeighbor
(104 posts)The problem is not that the players are overpaid, the problem is that fans are willing to pay so much to watch athletes play their respective games.
Since they are willing to pay, I would much rather the athletes get the unseemly amounts of money than the facist Republican old white men that own most of the teams and run sports like tennis, too.
spooky3
(34,466 posts)incredibly hard to do, and very fun for some of us to watch (and learn from, a little). Im happy to give them some of my money. Im much less happy about the ultra wealthys (whatever the industry) not paying their fair share of taxes.
These multi-billion dollar teams get tax breaks akin to big oil and their stadiums are paid for by the average citizen.
The NFL has yet to be forced to divulge their income because of their special status. They have fought as hard as trump to keep their books closed.
Meanwhile, they can charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for the citizen tax payers to sit in a seat they helped build. Just another example of the vast wealth divide in this country that continues to go unchecked.
The oligarchy is firmly entrenched in America. The problem is that too many Americans think they are the next one up to be a billionare, rather than the reality that they will most likely spend their life vacillating in and out of debt before they die alone in an austere nursing home that took their modest life savings to put them in a curtain divided room with two other dead genders they do not even no.
Mother Fucking American Dream.
malaise
(269,157 posts)It is from sponsorship, broadcast rights and endorsements
dsc
(52,166 posts)no fans no broadcasts to have rights to, no sponsorships or endorsements either.
malaise
(269,157 posts)but you raise a valid point
dlk
(11,574 posts)n/t
bahboo
(16,351 posts)Rod Laver. 2 calendar year grand slams, and consider all the years he couldn't compete because he was a pro. Also, a consummate gentleman. It is inconceivable that he, Roger or Rafa wold be pulling this shit.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)'As a result, Djokovic has been detained at Melbournes Park Hotel, also known as an Alternative Place of Detention (APOD) for refugees and asylum seekers that became notorious as a hotspot for COVID-19 infections among its longtime residents.'
Speak up: Australia refugees urge Djokovic to advocate ... '
www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/8/speak-up-australia-refugees-urge-djokovic-to-advocate-for-them
www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/8/speak-up-australia-refugees-urge-djokovic-
nuxvomica
(12,437 posts)If you have enough money and power, you can pick and choose doctors who will tell you what you want to hear, instead of what's best for you. I recall reading an article in Discover magazine decades ago about very rich people suffering poor health because they push their doctors around, essentially assuming their advice is better than the doctors'. Now we see this phenomenon among the middle class, especially people who fetishize wealth and power. One thing a nun taught me in school that has always stuck with me: she asked whether the pope was only answerable to God, and the answer is "no". She said even the pope, for all his vaunted infallibility, has to obey the advice of his doctor.
moondust
(20,002 posts)There are pictures of him in close contact without a mask one day after testing positive.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/08/novak-djokovic-relied-on-december-covid-infection-for-vaccine-exemption-court-documents-reveal
And at a big event at about the same time after testing positive and without a mask.
https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/tennis-djokovic-attended-belgrade-event-24-hours-after-positive-virus-test