- Djokovic said he was ‘always pro-freedom to choose’ rather than ‘anti-vax’
- The Serbian ended a very successful 2023 by winning three Grand Slams
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Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic appears to be backtracking on suggestions that he is against the Covid-19 vaccine.
In an interview with John McEnroe for the Omaha Productions show ‘McEnroe’s Places’, the US Open champion claimed he was not an anti-vaxxer.
This interview aired just days after he claimed his 24th major championship at Flushing Meadows.
Djokovic said his issue with the vaccine and the situation surrounding it was less about doubting the vaccine’s effectiveness and more about the way he saw it being forced on the public.
“I have never been anti-vax,” Djokovic said. ‘I was always in favor of the freedom to choose. And that’s something that we really took for granted. I didn’t really feel like many people had a choice.”
The world’s No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic says he has never been an ‘anti-vaxxer’
Speaking to John McEnroe, Djokovic said he was “always in favor of freedom of choice.”
Djokovic just won his third Grand Slam title of the year by winning the US Open on Sunday
He added that his ban from major tennis tournaments at the height of Covid vaccine mandates made him feel like a “villain of the world”.
“I just wanted to compete,” he said, “and I wanted to play tennis because that’s what I do best.”
Djokovic was denied entry to several countries during the 2022 tennis calendar after refusing to receive a vaccine.
This also applies to Australia and the United States around the time of the Australian Open and the US Open.
In the case of the Australian Open, Djokovic believed that because he contracted the virus near the tournament, he did not need a shot. The Australian government disagreed and deported the tennis star.
After the chaos of the 2022 tennis season, Djokovic put it behind him in 2023: he reached the finals of all four Grand Slams and won three.
He reclaimed his place among the world’s No. 1 tennis player with his win over Russian Daniil Medvedev last weekend to claim his fourth US Open title.