Every year professional tennis players train for months in preparation for the Australian Open. Number one Men’s tennis player and nine time Australian Open men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic sparked controversy in the tennis world when he landed in Australia for the 2022 Australian Open unvaccinated. Djokovic arrived at the Open with a vaccine exemption but nevertheless a lot of people were outraged. 

Djokovic showing up to the Australian Open knowing there was a vaccine requirement was extremely entitled and disrespectful. I think that it was very unfair to every other player competing in the tournament that he was granted an exemption from the policy of being vaccinated to compete. I personally believe the only reason he was granted the exemption was because of his status as the number one men’s player in the world. He however finally got what he deserved with the issue regarding his visa and vaccination status. This whole situation will inevitably cause more issues for Djokovic in the future. 

In November, two months before the Australian Open, it was announced that in order to compete players had to be fully vaccinated. This announcement caused lots of speculation and doubt that many unvaccinated players including Djokovic would not compete. Just before the tournament Djokovic arrived in Australia despite knowing he should be vaccinated to compete and the negative attention he was receiving. 

Thinking he could compete immediately just with his exemption led to him encountering some issues. Djokovic was held in an immigration detention center as his visa got revoked twice due to him being unvaccinated.

It has been said that there will be a law put in place for the second major tournament of the year, The French Open that has a vaccine requirement in all of France. This law could have Djokovic miss out on this other major tournament as The French Open stated that “Now, as far as Roland Garros is concerned, it’s in May. The situation may change between now and then and we hope that it will be more favorable. So we’ll see, but clearly there’s no exemption.” This states that unless one are vaccinated there is no way they can compete. This would include Djokovic as of now.

Since Djokovic has caused a lot of drama this year because of all of his issues with his visa and him being unvaccinated it is still uncertain if he will be able to play in the 2023 Australian Open and it may also affect his eligibility in many tournaments in the future.

If Djokovic was more courteous and chose not to show up to the Australian Open because he is unvaccinated or if he just simply got vaccinated, all of this drama and speculation could have easily been avoided. Choosing to cooperate with the rules put in place could have benefitted his career rather than making an unneeded mess. 

Novak Djokovic acted in a very disrespectful manner by showing up to the Australian Open despite specific rules that were put in place. Djokovic got unfair treatment because of his status as the number one men’s singles player in the world. However Australia fought back against him and gave him what he deserved by sending him back to Serbia and not allowing him to compete.