Novak Djokovic‘s career has seen its share of controversies over two decades, but the major episode remains the vaccination controversy in Melbourne in 2022. His recently released documentary, The Wolf In Winter, reveals how Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, had some differences of opinion with the Serb over the sensitive issue.
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“He really insisted on saying out loud that he wasn’t vaccinated, which I didn’t agree with,” said Jelena in the documentary. “I said ‘it’s your choice,’ but please don’t elaborate on it, as there are other people thinking differently. And from the moment he posted on Instagram, the hell opened.”
“He said it out loud. “If he did not say it out loud, he didn’t brag about it, probably that’s how they took it, like they wanted everybody to comply the moment you have one guy who is going against the current, that’s bad for everyone.”
She is referring to the Instagram post Djokovic made ahead of the 2022 Australian Open, where he stated that he was going to Australia with a medical exemption. “I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission,” he wrote.
In the Serb’s mind, he was eligible to enter the country based on the exemption that he had the virus six months prior. However, it ended up sparking intense backlash.
That did not change anything for the authorities, as Djokovic was detained at the airport, and subsequent political and legal turmoil meant the Serb was unable to enter the country to play the Australian Open. At that time, he was a three-time defending champion in Melbourne, but the government did not want to make a high-profile exception to their vaccination protocols.
Djokovic’s position on taking the Covid 19 vaccine did not cost him only in Australia but also in the US, where there was a policy of not letting anyone in without the vaccine, which meant that the Serb also missed the US Open, as well as the Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami as well.
Djokovic entered the 2022 season having finished the previous season with three Majors and a runner-up finish in the fourth, securing the World No. 1 position at the season’s end for a seventh time in his career. He finished the 2022 season ranked No. 5, having missed the Australian Open and events in the US, but at no point did the Serb veer from his beliefs or change his stance on vaccination.
Despite missing Majors due to the vaccine row, Djokovic maintained in his documentary that the decisions he made were not in support of any pro or anti-vaccine movements worldwide, but rather were him exercising his personal freedom to choose what he let into his body. The Serb was all for following the rules, and he was okay with missing the events in the US, but the Australian decision did not sit well with him, as he had fulfilled the criteria for the required medical exemption.