Tennis player Novak Đoković reminds that the decision for or against a vaccination is a highly personal decision. His statement also highlights the problems that international sporting events will face.
The number one in men’s tennis, Novak Đoković, does not answer the question of whether he is vaccinated or not. Upon request of the portal Tennis Majors He said at his press conference after reaching the semi-finals in Belgrade, “It’s an intimate decision for me and I don’t want to be part of this game for or against vaccinations that the media are unfortunately creating.”
The 34-year-old Serbian, record tennis player and one of the top players in the world for fourteen years, reminds us of a fact that has been almost completely forgotten in the wake of COVID-19: that a person’s health data is worth protecting and special reasons are required to keep them to see. This data also includes whether or when and where you received which vaccination.
At the tournament in Belgrade, organized by Novak’s brother Djordje, the athletes were given the opportunity to be vaccinated, as they had in Charleston; in Serbia even with the option of opting for a Russian or Chinese vaccine. A number of players announced also according to having been vaccinated.
“When it comes to vaccinations, I believe in independence and freedom of choice,” said the tennis ace. He does not want to become part of a conflict between supporters and opponents of vaccination, not even part of a media campaign; whoever wants to be vaccinated should do so, whoever doesn’t, not. But he hoped that there was no compulsory vaccination for participating in the ATP tour; he was clearly against it.
In any case, the willingness to vaccinate varies from country to country, continues Đoković. It is very low in Spain, as tennis professional Raffael Nadal told him. Every country has to deal with this situation independently. Russia, Belarus and Sweden have a very different approach than some Western countries, and they can get by, the Serb said.
It’s not just the ATP tour that faces tough vaccination decisions. Just recently, the Russian fans were not allowed to enter Denmark for the European Football Championship because the EU does not recognize the Russian vaccination. In the near future, there will be athletes and spectators at every sporting event at every point on the globe who have not been vaccinated, vaccinated or recovered, and if the international sports federations do not agree on a uniform approach, but continue to fight or fight over the recognition of vaccinations individual states rely on compulsory vaccinations, then it would be extremely difficult to hold such events at all.
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