Ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam event, who would have imagined that the focus will be on deciding whether to let a tennis player participate in the event or send him home. Even though the sportsman in discussion is ranked no.1 in the world, the entire controversy took the limelight away from tennis and onto court proceedings of Serbian tennis icon, Novak Djokovic.

But, that’s not to say that Djokovic didn’t enjoy support. The 20-time Grand Slam champion was backed by scores of tennis fans across the globe and also by his colleagues as they found Djokovic’s treatment in the land down under wasn’t right. As is the situation in any controversy, there are fair amount of people who wanted Novak to just get vaccinated in order to avoid having problems on tour.

Toni Nadal feels that the Australian Open controversy involving Novak Djokovic took away the attention from tennis

Recently, Toni Nadal, ex-coach and uncle to Rafael Nadal, wrote an article in the Spanish news daily El Pais over how the Serb’s actions didn’t allow the Australian government with much choice but to deport him from their land.

Watch this story: “Where Is Your Support?”: Nick Kyrgios Slams Rafael Nadal and Other Tennis Stars for Not Standing Up for Novak Djokovic

Also, uncle Toni shed light on how Djokovic’s case grabbed the media headlines as they didn’t pay much attention towards the on-going tournaments at the same time.

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“The week leading up to the start of the Australian Open had little, if any, publicity due to the Djokovic case. The debate has clearly gone beyond the sporting sphere and has been contaminated by the ideological and dogmatic spirit that defines our era so well”, wrote Toni Nadal in the article to El Pais.

Toni explained further, “I don’t want to confuse the issue any further, but I want to highlight some points that we should not forget. The first is that if countries had not imposed containment or self-protection measures, and if we had not been massively vaccinated, this tournament would most likely not take place”. 

Toni criticized Djokovic for not following necessary mandates

Toni Nadal was critical of Djokovic’s actions in the entire saga as he concluded, “Secondly, I think the Serbian player’s actions cast too many doubts and the Australian government had no choice but to order his deportation to ensure strict compliance with the rules”.

While a strict section of admirers hail Djokovic for being resilient amidst the chaos, others feel that the entire controversy could’ve been avoided if the Serbian took the jab and play the event peacefully. The repercussions of Novak’s deportation are yet to be seen as the 20-time Grand Slam champion is yet to comment further over his comeback tournament on the ATP season.

Also read: Daniil Medvedev Says Novak Djokovic’s Absence ‘Would Not’ Make a Difference on His Australian Open 2022 Performance