[imagesource:twitter/taopatch]

Novak Djokovic has raised eyebrows at this year’s Grand Slams by revealing a mysterious metal disc strapped to his chest that makes him look like Tony Stark in Iron Man.

The tennis star had the coin-like device taped between his sexy chest at the French Open and Wimbledon, and could wear it again when the US Open starts today.

According to the world number two tennis player, the little gadget is the ‘biggest secret to my career’. So what is it?

Djokovic was asked about the disc after his second round French Open win over Marton Fucsovics in May after it caught the attention of bemused commentators and viewers.

“When I was a kid I liked Iron Man a lot,” he said, “So I try to impersonate Iron Man.”

Fortunately, Djokovic doesn’t have any bullet fragments he needs to keep away from his heart like Stark, but instead, he claims that the device significantly increases his performance on the court.

“My team delivers incredibly efficient nanotechnology to help me deliver my best, and that’s probably the biggest secret of my career. If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”

After the buzz around the tech, an Italian company called Tao Technologies said it was behind the device.

Described as a “human upgrade device”, the patented Taopatch is designed to improve health and well-being. It claims the patch, which “uses two layers of nanocrystals that convert heat from your body into light”, sends therapeutic signals to the wearer’s nervous system to help their body achieve true balance.

Among the benefits it purportedly provides is improved sleep, posture, balance, flexibility, recovery times, and focus, alongside reductions in stress, anxiety, and chronic pain. The firm even claims the patch – which starts at £238 (R5 600) – has helped patients with multiple sclerosis.

Fabio Fontana, inventor of Taopatch and CEO of Tao Technologies, said he was inspired to invest in the product after becoming dependent on painkillers after a car accident. “All the therapies I tried only provided temporary results,” he said. The only relief the poor guy found was with laser therapy.

“I wondered if it would be possible to create a kind of wearable laser to prolong the effect of the treatment.”

The nano-crystals, he said, simulate the effect of the laser treatments he received – and that the patch is simply “a different way of administering light therapy”. The patch is an approved medical device according to EU regulations, but it still has to be approved by America’s drugs regulators.

One Italian study in 2021 concluded it improved balance, movement, and affected limbs of multiple sclerosis patients, while another that looked into its impact on athletic performance said it had improved participants’ grip and squat strength.

Not everyone is buying into the ‘light therapy’ vibe though.

Dr Brandon Beaber, a neurologist, has said studies may suggest a “little bit of benefit” anecdotally, but they remained unproven, while other experts say none of the company’s claims seemed “supported by sound evidence”. As one professor at the University of Exeter put it: “The notion that it generates any benefit is bogus, the principles put forward fly in the face of science.”

It does sound a bit reiki-ish.

No clear evidence that it works may explain why Djokovic has been left in peace to wear his ‘laser disk’. The tennis player is after all known for his ‘alternative’ opinions on health matters. He famously refused to take a take a COVID vaccine, and missed several tournaments as a result due to international travel restrictions.

Djokovic also believes that some people have telepathic powers, as well as giving up gluten after claiming proximity to a piece of white bread made his body feel weaker. So why not a laser beam nanocrystal thingy to play better?

We’ll have to see how he does in the US Open this coming month to find out if it really does work, or if he is better off with a Milnerton Market crystal under his pillow.

[source:sky]