With the most Grand Slams, Masters titles, weeks at number one, and year-end number-one rankings, Novak Djokovic is arguably the greatest tennis player who has ever lived.
He has also been a staunch advocate of medical freedom—a stance that came to the fore during the COVID years and has made headlines again this week.
During his post-match press conference following a Round 16 win at Wimbledon, Djokovic confronted members of the crowd who had apparently booed him during the game—a practice that has sadly become commonplace since he declined the coronavirus injection.
“To all the fans that have respect and that stayed here tonight: Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it,” he began.
“And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player—in this case, me—have a gooood night,” he said, lengthening the “O’s” in mockery of the crowd’s earlier boos.
When the host suggested that Djokovic had mistaken cheers of his opponent’s surname (Holger Rune) for the word “boo,” the tennis star remained unpersuaded.
“I don’t accept it. No, no, no, I know they were chanting for Rune. But that’s an excuse to also boo,” he explained.
“Listen, I’ve been on the tour for more than 20 years. So trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works. It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s OK. I focus on the respectful people, that have respect, that paid [for] a ticket to watch tonight and love tennis.”
“I’ve played in much more hostile environments. Trust me, you guys can’t touch me.”
During a subsequent BBC sit-down interview, when the reporter failed to ask Djokovic any questions about tennis and instead repeatedly interrogated the booing incident, Djokovic walked out.
All power to him, I say.
As an Australian, I watched many in my nation treat Djokovic with contempt, despite his rather discreet public remarks on COVID overreach at the time.
The man has been mocked, vilified, detained, and deported—all for simply defending “the freedom to choose what you put into your body” and declining a medical treatment now widely acknowledged to have caused serious injuries and deaths.
While Novak Djokovic has been a brave outlier, fortunately he has not been alone.
NBA veteran Kyrie Irving, now a shooting guard for the Dallas Mavericks, infamously turned down a $100 million-dollar four-year extension with the Brooklyn Nets over his decision not to be injected.
Initially suspended from Nets games, Irving was allowed back on the court once New York State mandates eased. He used those events to advocate not for himself but others, tweeting at the time:
If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired.
This enforced Vaccine/Pandemic is one the biggest violations of HUMAN RIGHTS in history.
Swiss Olympic snowboarder and gold-medalist Patrizia Kummer also made headlines when her decision not to be injected resulted in a three-week quarantine in the lead-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Kummer was initially reluctant to discuss her refusal of the treatment, though she did ultimately provide some commentary during a video call from her hotel room in Beijing.
“I had a bunch of reasons for the vaccine and a bunch of reasons against the vaccine,” she explained. “And in the end, it was like, ‘No, I can’t do it.’”
Among her reasons was that she was “not in a risk group.”
Another athlete to take a strong stance against mandated injections was NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, then of the Green Bay Packers.
Rodgers initially confused media pundits by explaining he was “immunized” against COVID-19, by which he meant he’d taken preventative treatments, not the vaccine. He and a teammate also attended a team-sanctioned Halloween party in violation of stringent NFL protocols, resulting in personal and team fines of more than $300,000.
That incident notwithstanding, Rodgers advocated extensively for medical freedom in numerous interviews, the most high-profile of them being his various appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience. (Excuse the language in the clip below).
Elite athletes spend their every waking moment guarding their health and keeping their bodies in top condition for events.
Of all people, surely they deserve the freedom to evaluate their own health decisions, with the personally-tailored input of professionals.
Punishing them during the COVID era was a mistake. Booing them still in 2024 is mindless.
Given their advocacy, not just for their own medical autonomy but that of the general public, athletes like Novak Djokovic, Kyrie Irving, Patrizia Kummer, and Aaron Rodgers deserve our thanks and admiration.
And to those still unable to see it, listen to the stories of people since harmed by the vaccine and reevaluate the last few years events in that light.
Who knows, you might even change your mind.
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