Monday, Jan. 17 marked the start of both the Australian Open and Novak Djokovic’s arrival in his home country of Serbia after being deported from Australia due to being unvaccinated. The top-ranking tennis star loses out on the chance to defend the title he won last year and break the tied record with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for most Grand Slam wins.
The deportation decision arrived Sunday, Jan. 16, from Australia’s Federal Court. Three judges agreed unanimously that the unvaccinated tennis star’s presence could cause anti-vaccination sentiments and unrest, but left the potential for Djokovic to return to the Australian Open next year.
The decision may have begun a potential controversial movement in professional sports, if not tennis alone. Djokovic’s next chance to break the Grand Slam record at the French Open in May could only be wishful thinking, as France issued their new vaccine pass on Jan. 16. The pass requires all persons over the age of 16 to have proof of vaccination to access most public places. The French sports ministry stated on Jan. 17 that there are “no exemptions in the vaccine pass,” so as of now, Djokovic could not attend the Open.
While the Australian government deported Djokovic to avoid anti-vaccination unrest, the controversy has sparked the debate on mandatory vaccine passports in professional sports again. Cycling will also be affected by France’s strict vaccine pass in the coming months. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez supported the Australian government’s decision to deport Djokovic, stating that the tennis star, and all athletes, will have to comply with the Spanish government’s COVID-19 mandates for the Madrid Open in April or they won’t be able to play.
The controversial in-decision across the world’s sports leagues is questionable. The NFL and NBA have yet to make vaccines mandatory. The NFL decided to cut their mandatory isolation period for unvaccinated players who tested positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five. As of Dec. 15, 94.6 per cent of NFL players are vaccinated. The decision to lower the number of isolation days comes after a league-wide COVID-19 outbreak in Week 15, with some teams having more than 20 players infected, causing games to be rescheduled.
The NBA is also no stranger to the anti-vaccine controversy. A number of their most profitable players, such as Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, remain unvaccinated yet are still allowed to play. Vaccination rules are mainly on a building-by-building basis, and the NBA allows fully vaccinated players and coaches to not wear masks during games and in training.
The reasons for leagues and anti-vaccine players not wanting the jab and opposing vaccine rules remain tentative at best. Athletes continue to give a wide range of reasons for choosing not to get the vaccine, from not understanding the global benefits of vaccines, to saying that it is their personal choice. If it is as simple as their decision to not get the shot, then it is their choice not to play. With the Omicron variant quickly spreading, and more money being lost as sporting events are canceled and postponed, the tentative reasons given by professional leagues just don’t cut it anymore.
One lesson to be learned from the Djokovic versus Australia saga is that when an athlete publicly does not comply with a mandate, they cast shadows and unwanted drama over the entire sport. It is unfair to the fans and other players who do comply with the regulations. It makes the ordeal more controversial, instead of focusing on the important things: the money to be made and the sport that fans are passionate about.
Image: Oscar Del Pozo/Getty
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
