Djokovic is another whiny sports superstar with an exaggerated sense of entitlement

[Nevilledog]

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Max Boot
@MaxBoot
If Djokovic is Spartacus (as claimed by his father), then I’m Rod Laver.

In truth, Djokovic is another whiny sports superstar with screwy ideas and an exaggerated sense of entitlement.

Opinion | Djokovic is another whiny sports superstar with an exaggerated sense of entitlement
I hope that Australia deports him — and that he will not be allowed to enter the United States to play the U.S. Open unless he presents proof of vaccination.
washingtonpost.com
1:35 PM · Jan 8, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/08/djokovic-vaccines-entitlement/

No paywall
https://archive.fo/jFVWL

Star athletes in today’s world are demigods. They are paid obscene amounts of money for playing children’s games. They are breathlessly interviewed on TV. Their personal lives are chronicled on social media. Their presence is desired at every party and charitable event. They are constantly sought after as friends, investors and romantic partners.

It can be very easy under those circumstances to lose your head — to imagine that, because you are so good at playing your sport, you must also be an expert in matters far removed from it. Hence the phenomenon of star athletes — such as the NFL’s Aaron Rodgers and the NBA’s Kyrie Irving — who refuse to get vaccinated, suggesting that they think they know more than the entire medical establishment about how best to fight covid-19.

Add Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic to the list.

Over the past two decades, he has made a strong case that he is the tennis GOAT — the Greatest of All Time. He has won 20 Grand Slam titles, creating a three-way tie for the record with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the other two contenders for the “Greatest” title. But Djokovic has a winning head-to-head record against both Federer and Nadal, and he is younger than they are, so the odds are that he will soon surpass their feats.

I was in the stands at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2019 when Djokovic saved two match points against Federer and went on to win another Wimbledon title in a five-set thriller. No one in the history of tennis has been better than Djokovic in clutch points. He must have veins full of ice water.

*snip*

[LoisB]

1. The GOAT is and always will be Roger Federer.

[zuul]

2. Novaxx Djocovid is his new name

per social media.

[malaise]

3. Some of us have been saying this for years

Hope they kick him out

[USALiberal]

8. Do you like him more than Federer?? :-)

[malaise]

10. Rafa. Rafa. Rafa

😀😀.

[Karma13612]

12. Yup!

Vamos Rafa!

He beat Federer in a 5-set nail biter finals match (Wimbledon ?) a long time ago and he got my attention.

Of the three, on behaviour alone, Rafa is the sportsman.

And for ME, that makes him the GOAT.

Even if he never wins another title and even if Federer goes on to win more, and Novak certainly has it in him to win more.

[BlackSkimmer]

15. Ditto, ditto, ditto!

[LisaM]

20. I love Rafa

On top of everything else, he's left-handed (at least for tennis).

[LisaM]

4. Can't bear him.

Last edited Sat Jan 8, 2022, 11:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Long before the COVID thing, I found his chest-thumping and lack of grace on court -the way he snarls - off-putting. This latest behavior doesn't surprise me in the least.

If this helps Rafa, so be it. Djokovic has only himself to blame.

[Karma13612]

13. Agree that he

Shows unbearable arrogance. I originally thought he wouldn’t get so far. I thought his antics would get in the way of him concentrating on his game. He has gotten more mature, but has replaced his playful court antics with arrogance.

It’s unbecoming and not sportsmanlike.

[RandPaulsNeighbor]

5. I agree with you, except....

The problem is not that the players are overpaid, the problem is that fans are willing to pay so much to watch athletes play their respective games.
Since they are willing to pay, I would much rather the athletes get the unseemly amounts of money than the facist Republican old white men that own most of the teams and run sports like tennis, too.

[spooky3]

6. I agree about the pay. And they are paid so much because what they do is

incredibly hard to do, and very fun for some of us to watch (and learn from, a little). I’m happy to give them some of my money. I’m much less happy about the ultra wealthy’s (whatever the industry) not paying their fair share of taxes.

[RandPaulsNeighbor]

9. Yep

These multi-billion dollar teams get tax breaks akin to big oil and their stadiums are paid for by the average citizen.
The NFL has yet to be forced to divulge their income because of their special status. They have fought as hard as trump to keep their books closed.


Meanwhile, they can charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for the citizen tax payers to sit in a seat they helped build. Just another example of the vast wealth divide in this country that continues to go unchecked.

The oligarchy is firmly entrenched in America. The problem is that too many Americans think they are the next one up to be a billionare, rather than the reality that they will most likely spend their life vacillating in and out of debt before they die alone in an austere nursing home that took their modest life savings to put them in a curtain divided room with two other dead genders they do not even no.

Mother Fucking American Dream.

[malaise]

11. The real money in sport is not from fans

It is from sponsorship, broadcast rights and endorsements

[dsc]

16. all of which derive directly from fans

no fans no broadcasts to have rights to, no sponsorships or endorsements either.

[malaise]

19. I think the reference was to the exhorbitant costs of tickets

but you raise a valid point

[dlk]

7. Djokovic is special; the rules don't apply to him...

n/t

[bahboo]

14. GOAT for me is....

Rod Laver. 2 calendar year grand slams, and consider all the years he couldn't compete because he was a pro. Also, a consummate gentleman. It is inconceivable that he, Roger or Rafa wold be pulling this shit.

[empedocles]

17. Djokovic is free to leave his APOD any time he chooses.

'As a result, Djokovic has been detained at Melbourne’s Park Hotel, also known as an Alternative Place of Detention (APOD) for refugees and asylum seekers that became notorious as a hotspot for COVID-19 infections among its longtime residents.'

‘Speak up’: Australia refugees urge Djokovic to advocate ... '

www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/8/speak-up-australia-refugees-urge-djokovic-to-advocate-for-them
www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/8/speak-up-australia-refugees-urge-djokovic-

[nuxvomica]

18. Same reason many rich people get poor health care

If you have enough money and power, you can pick and choose doctors who will tell you what you want to hear, instead of what's best for you. I recall reading an article in Discover magazine decades ago about very rich people suffering poor health because they push their doctors around, essentially assuming their advice is better than the doctors'. Now we see this phenomenon among the middle class, especially people who fetishize wealth and power. One thing a nun taught me in school that has always stuck with me: she asked whether the pope was only answerable to God, and the answer is "no". She said even the pope, for all his vaunted infallibility, has to obey the advice of his doctor.

[moondust]

21. Irresponsible.

There are pictures of him in close contact without a mask one day after testing positive.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/08/novak-djokovic-relied-on-december-covid-infection-for-vaccine-exemption-court-documents-reveal

And at a big event at about the same time after testing positive and without a mask.
https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/tennis-djokovic-attended-belgrade-event-24-hours-after-positive-virus-test