No Djoke: Aussies tell No. 1 player to leave

What’s with these athletes anyway? Sure sometimes they play loose with the rules—other than golf—but calling a shot in when it’s out or claiming they caught a pass when it hit the turf is one thing.  

 Trying to escape a vaccination for coronavirus is another.

 Do they believe these judgments about health were made to hurt their games?  Is that why Aaron Rodgers spent all that effort to try and con us? Or that Novak Djokovic has given us a lot of  gobbledy-gook that he had a medical exemption?

The man known as the Joker for more reasons than his name, was refused entry into Australia when his flight landed Thursday at Melbourne.

 The No. 1 men’s player in the world rankings was told, basically, “b’gone” virtually as he arrived to defend his title in the Australian Open.

Dokovic is special. As a tennis player. The next Grand Slam he wins, Australia or Wimbledon, U.S .Open, whatever, will be his 21st overall, one more than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

But Djokovic is also just another member of society, another human in a world where a virus has been running wild and hundreds of thousands have died.

As is Rodgers.  And Antonio Brown. And the rest of the athletes with their explanations and fabrications about avoiding the injection that will benefit millions of others.

Djokivic and his agents and traveling party thought everything was arranged. He’s the star, the last of the generation still in shape and in the spotlight.

Personalities are the lifeblood of tennis and golf. His presence lifts the tournament—as television and fans and Novak know. They want him to be there. Djokovic wants to be there.

But who knows if he will be there?

You can sympathize with Djokovic getting held in the Melbourne airport after a 13-hour flight from Dubai. Australia takes no chances. A year ago some 70 players had to spend two weeks in quarantine, allowed out of their hotel rooms only to practice.

This time, officials never permitted Djokovic to get off the airport property. He was kept in a room overnight, a 12-hour standoff—you can imagine his unhappiness debating the validity of his medical exemption from vaccine.

 One day he had been given last-minute permission to enter the country, in effect being told by the prime minister that, indeed he was who he and tennis fans thought he was—Mr. Wonderful—to revert to persona non grata.

 At one point, according to the New York Times, Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia, Djokovic’s home country, got involved. Wouldn’t you have liked to be in on that conversation?

Maybe  president Vucic could work out a package deal that includes Kyrie Irving and the Nets.

Sorry. This is serious business in the Land Down Under where they’ve been remarkably successful against Covid-19 because of attention to detail.

“Fair and independent protocols were established for assessing medical exemption applications that will enable us to ensure Australian Open 2022 is safe and enjoyable for everyone,”  said Craig Tiley,  president of the Open.

Djokovic has always done mostly what he wanted, whether when he was young , imitations of others , to at the start of the virus outbreak in March 2020 holding a tournament in Serbia where nobody was forced wear a mask.       

Others on the tennis tours appreciate his skill but not necessarily his style. Or his leverage as a celebrity.

“I think if it was me,” said Jamie Murray of Britain the doubles specialist, and younger brother Andy Murray, “I wouldn’t be getting an exemption.”

But it’s not you, it’s Novak Djokovic. A problem for opponents, a problem for health authorities.