Serbian ace Novak Djokovic sits comfortably atop the men’s singles world rankings, and Forbes estimates that he pulled in a cool $44,6 million between June 2019 and May 2020.

He’ll never go hungry again, but he’ll also never have the same sort of universal respect that guys like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal will enjoy when they retire.

The ill-fated Adria Tour, which he was involved in organising, as a way of reintroducing tennis to the Balkans, has once again highlighted why he’s a polarising figure.

You may recall that multiple players on the tour tested positive for COVID-19, and later Djokovic himself, which makes the videos of the tour’s players partying together and ignoring basic COVID-19 safety precautions a touch embarrassing.

Following that fallout, Djokovic and his father went on the defensive, with the latter blaming anybody but his son, which was shot down by multiple fellow professional tennis players.

Close to two months later, and Djoko is still digging that hole deeper, reports the Guardian:

“I don’t think I’ve done anything bad,” he said. “I do feel sorry for people that were infected. Do I feel guilty for anybody that was infected from that point onward in Serbia, Croatia and region? Of course not. How can you blame one individual for everything?”

“We tried to do something with the right intentions…Yes, there were some steps that could have been done differently, but am I going to be then forever blamed for doing a mistake?

“I mean, OK, if this is the way, fine, I’ll accept it, because that’s the only thing I can do.

“If I had the chance to do the Adria Tour again, I would do it again. It’s like a witch hunt.”

“Witch hunt”, you say? Sounds like something a famous world leader tweets out whenever he sees or reads anything that doesn’t flatter him.

Djokovic’s case isn’t helped by some of the rather strange views he has shared, and given a platform too, during the pandemic.

For example, Djokovic said humans can change the molecular composition of water with their emotions:

…”through the power of prayer, through the power of gratitude, they manage to turn the most toxic food or the most polluted water, into the most healing water,” Djokovic said…

He went on: “Because water reacts and scientists have proven that, that molecules in the water react to our emotions, to what is being said.”

He has also been outspoken about his views on vaccines, at one point saying, “I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel”.

In a recent New York Times interview, he elaborated on those views, saying he is not an anti-vaxxer, but…

“My issue here with vaccines is if someone is forcing me to put something in my body. That I don’t want. For me that’s unacceptable.

“I am not against vaccination of any kind. I’m sure that there are vaccines that have little side effects that have helped people and helped stop the spread of some infections around the world.”

“How are we expecting that to solve our problem when this coronavirus is mutating regularly from what I understand?”

I have no doubt that there countless medical experts who would love to help him understand why a vaccine would be so beneficial, but instead, Djokovic chooses to give his massive platform (more than seven million followers on Instagram) to the likes of Chervin Jafarieh, the founder of a company called CYMBIOTIKA, which punts expensive herbal supplements with little to no basis in science.

The US Open starts on August 31, and the 17-time singles Grand Slam winner will be hoping to capitalise on the absence of Roger Federer to close the gap on the Swiss record holder, with 20 titles to his name.

Rafa Nadal will also be missing in action.

[source:sguardian&nytimes]