Comment The Australian Championship got a small scratch, but Novak Djokovic a big bump and even bigger losses

The world of tennis number one player Novak Djokovicin the vaccine cost him a lot. An Australian federal court rejected his visa and residence permit and thus participation in the first grand slam of the season.

It is pointless to calculate Djokovic’s losses in dollars or euros. He has not played with money for years. The prize money earned during his career rises to nearly $ 155 million and multiples of his sponsorship agreements.

More money Djokovic wants titles and prestige. He chased real grand slam last year and made one match win. He won the Australian Championship first, the French Open in early summer and Wimbledon in the heat of July. The dream only failed at the US Open final with a loss to Russia Daniil Medvedeville.

If Djokovic had won the US Open, it would have been the first male player to win a grand slam in 53 years when Australia Rod Laver took all four major tournaments in 1968. Laver also won the grand slam in 1962 and Don Budge 1938

The win would have been Djokovic’s 21st grand slam championship and thus the biggest number on the men’s side.

The year 2022 was to offer a new company to Djokovic, who at the age of 34 will still be able to win any tournament. A grand slam is no longer possible for him this year.

What kind a bump in tennis got when Djokovic was directed out of the country?

It would be too straightforward to say nothing, but in any case the loss to the species is much less than to Djokovic himself.

The Australian championship got at most scratched when Djokovic got a big bump.

Grand slam tournaments have been vibrant and exciting even in the years when one of the superstars has been sidelined due to injury

Participation in the Australian Open required two vaccinations or a medical exemption from non-vaccination. Djokovic took a conscious risk when he left for Melbourne, although he first got the green light from the tournament organizers.

It was a long minus for the organizers that they gave the green light to Djokovic and the chart had time to draw before the final decision of the court. Now there was some kind of notch at the top of the chart when a player ranked truly number one is missing.

Djokovic’s attempt to participate in the tournament unvaccinated didn’t really get any sympathy from the other players – and that also says the sport didn’t suffer from this incident, but rather Djokovic himself.

In top tennis is turbulent long before Djokovic.

A tide of protest broke out at the beginning of the professional tour. Yugoslavia Nikola Pilic Pilic refused to play the Davis Cup, an inter – team tournament, and the International Tennis Association banned Pilic from playing in Wimbledon in 1973.

The case took on enormous proportions when ATP, a professional players ’association founded a year earlier, demanded that its players withdraw from Wimbledon.

As many as 79 ATP players withdrew from Wimbledon and 13 out of a total of 16 placed players dropped out.

The French Open again rumbled properly the very next year. American Jimmy Connors was the best player in the world in 1974, but was eliminated from the tournament after joining the world ‘s rival organization World Team Tennis (WTT).

The solution was then not only tough, but also heavy for Connors, who won all other grand slam tournaments in 1974 except Roland Garros, for whom the gates were closed.

Connors said after his treatment that he would never play in the French Open again. The decision took five years, but if the controversy surrounding the case is still alive.