Men’s tennis world No. 6 Novak Djokovic will not play in this year’s U.S. Open, set to begin Monday in New York, because he remains unvaccinated against COVID-19. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim and Chris Almeida examine the star’s decision, what it means for his pursuit of the all-time major wins record and how it impacts his legacy.
Chris Almeida: Here we are at noon Eastern time on Thursday, the week before the start of the main draw of the U.S. Open, and Novak Djokovic, who has won the tournament three times, who famously was the runner-up last year, has withdrawn from the tournament. We sort of knew this was coming: If you aren’t vaccinated and you’re not a U.S. citizen, you can’t enter the country. Djokovic hasn’t played any of the lead-up events in the States. But still, this is a pretty jarring development. And it would have been shocking a year ago.
Seven months ago we were having all these same conversations: Is he really going to cost himself a legacy because he is suspicious of vaccines? Well, now it seems like he will.
Jon Wertheim: This, to me, feels a lot like Serena’s retirement announcement two weeks ago. You knew it was going to happen. It being made official seems jarring, but utterly unsurprising. And I think you just stand back and … I think we’re past the point of sort of litigating vaccines now. Right? It’s more about the idea that a guy who is 35 years old, and is on the cusp of history, and has spoken openly and, I think, admirably about how retiring with the most majors is the overarching goal. How he would take himself out of contention for two of the four majors in the year he turns 35. It's just extraordinary.
And I think we’re going to be talking about this for many, many years. Part of this is sports records. But part of this is about wider perception. And you know, who, without turning this into referendums on vaccines and appropriate behavior during global crises … Somebody just wrote to me, and I think it's a really good point. He said: At this point, how much of this is about Djokovic—him really believing, after we’ve got billions of people who’ve taken this vaccine without adverse effects, including tennis players, that there’s something nefarious about them? And how much of this is now just about an athlete mentality of doubling down rather than conceding defeat? Is it the same stubborn streak that makes athletes great at their day jobs rearing its head in this other way?
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CA: I don’t know. I mean, I always remember reading a story about him circa, I think, 2018. He had that brief period where he kind of dropped off after winning the Novak Slam in 2015–16. After that, he didn’t win for a while, and it came out that he had elbow problems. So he had surgery. And he doesn’t believe in surgery. He was reportedly so upset about what he had done that he cried for days about it. But that surgery brought his career back. And that was always really jarring to me, because after he saw that this procedure had helped him, he was still upset. Clearly the strength of what he believes is pretty abnormal, even for the athletes that are like contrarians on public health matters. But now he’s taken himself out of two majors where he would have been the runaway favorite.
JW: Let’s not forget he won the previous major! He’s on a seven-major-match winning streak. The problem is: On social media at some level, there is a completely contemporary fact pattern. You will find thousands and thousands of people who say: You are a maverick; you are a hero; you are a man of conviction. The other players are sheep. There is enough positive reinforcement. So who knows? I mean, he may think this is a great act of moral courage. There certainly is enough feedback, right?
I think everyone’s arguing about the United States’ travel policy and about double standards and about Fauci and the CDC and I just think at the base of it, just step back: This guy is on the threshold of history and this is someone—I’m about to snap Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak—somebody about to set one of the great sports benchmarks, and he’s voluntarily taking himself out of contention. You see all sorts of players in tennis go to great extremes to play these majors. It’s what kept Serena Williams going at age 40. And it’s what kept other players from retiring. Andy Murray has a metal hip. Did you watch that documentary about what he does every morning to get back out there? The idea that someone is missing a major when he’s in perfectly good shape, when he won the previous one, when he wants to win more … to take this kind of stance is really extraordinary.
CA: And this isn’t the end of it. As far as we know, this is carrying into the next major, too. He could be banned from Australia for the next three years.
JW: Yeah, and then he goes to the French, which is his least successful major, and suddenly he’s 36 years old. For all the thought exercises and all the hypotheticals about this GOAT race, nobody ever would have thought that it might come down to one of the contenders not putting himself in contention because he didn’t want a vaccination that billions of people have gotten with no adverse effects.
CA: I mean, it might be a dumb thing to say at this moment, but I do think he’s still going to run away with it. Still, though, he’s knocked perhaps three wins off his total, whatever it ends up being.
JW: I think you’re right. If you’re handicapping it right now, I would say he retires with the most majors, but to so many people—and this isn’t just social media talking—I see this in interviews and I see this in the way the casual fan talks about this: He’s the anti-vax guy. I mean, he’s tennis’s Kyrie Irving.
And I don’t know if he realizes the sort of damage to his image this does. Even if he retires with the most majors, I think that’s something, with the casual fan, that’s gonna stick.
CA: I don’t mean to zoom out too far here. But isn’t that the average American fan?
JW: I don’t know. I mean, at the French Open the fans were 95–5 for Nadal. I mean, I think you’re right. I think in the U.S. and Australia it’s probably accentuated.
CA: Anyway, now who do you think is gonna win?
