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The Serbian player is familiar with controversial statements and actions. Back to five of them.
Novak Djokovic has no equal in making people talk about him in the world of tennis.
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Stupor at the US Open
In early September 2020, when a boulevard seemed to clear in front of him at the US Open, Djokovic was disqualified in his round of 16 against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno for having accidentally sent a ball at a linesman, touching her at the throat.
The Serbian’s gesture expressed his frustration at having conceded a game of service in a match played on an Arthur-Ashe court without any spectator due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
“I am really sad and emptied after this story”, he comments. “I checked the linesman’s condition, and the tournament told me thank goodness she was feeling good. I am terribly sorry for causing him such stress. So unintentional. So bad.”
A Covid tour in the Balkans
In June of the same year, in the midst of a pandemic and while the professional tennis circuit was at a standstill, Djokovic organized the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition tournaments in the Balkans. But this “tennis party” was abruptly interrupted in Zadar, Croatia, when Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov tested positive for the coronavirus.
Djokovic, his wife Jelena as well as his compatriots Viktor Troicki and Borna Coric will later reveal that they too have been infected with the virus. The players are also strongly criticized for going to a nightclub, dancing and kissing in defiance of barrier gestures.
Bird name
On his arrival in Melbourne a year ago for the 2021 edition of the Australian Open, Djokovic raises a storm of protest when some sources reveal that he has handed over a list of requirements including the provision for players in private accommodation with tennis courts.
“Djokovic is a moron” (“Djokovic is a tool”), reacts on Twitter the fantastic Australian player Nick Kyrgios.
Pain resistant
Djokovic has long been suspected of exaggerating the severity of his injuries. At the 2008 US Open, he requested two medical breaks in his five-set victory over Tommy Robredo. Facing the press, Andy Roddick, who is preparing to face him in the quarter-finals, draws up with biting irony the long list of the Serbian’s injuries including “two ankles affected, bird flu and SARS!”
Winner of the American, Djokovic will answer him directly on the court, during the post-match interview: “It seems that Andy said that I suffered from 16 injuries in the previous match (…) He seems good not, ”he said. But this reputation continues Djokovic. During the Roland-Garros tournament in 2020, Pablo Carreno, beaten by the Serbian in the quarter-finals, lets go: “Every time a match gets complicated, he asks for medical help.”
At the start of 2021 at the Australian Open, the American Taylor Fritz, after giving in to him in five rounds in the third round, is also biting. While Djokovic explains having fought on the court because he had torn his abdomen, the American replies: “If he was really, really injured, he could not have continued to play.” Djokovic continues his tournament adventure to its conclusion, claiming his ninth Australian Open title.
“Water reacts to our emotions”
Far from the short, Djokovic stirs another controversy by asserting that it is possible to modify the composition of water or food by resorting to positive thinking. In an online conversation with Chervin Jafarieh, a ‘wellness guru’, the Serbian player says: ‘I have seen people, and I know some capable people, through energetic transformations, through the power of prayer, to transform the most toxic food or the most polluted water into the most healing water. “
He adds that “scientists have shown that the molecules present in water react to our emotions, to what is said”. Mary Carillo, a former tennis player turned television consultant, expresses her unease on The Tennis Channel. “It bothers me a lot that Djokovic or others say that you can turn toxic water into drinking water. It’s dangerous talk, ”she said.
(AFP)