The Djoke's on him

A lot of people who follow tennis don't like Novak Djokovic, despite his being the best tennis player in the world at the moment. I'm not one of the haters, but I hardly find the guy lovable. His behavior in the Olympics was atrocious, for exanple.

And he's got some strange and dangerous ideas when it comes to Covid. Back at the start of the pandemic, he ran a maskless tournament that got a bunch of people sick, including himself. Then when vaccines showed up, he refused to get a shot. And to this day he still refuses. He's "done" his "research."

Well, now it's time for the Australian Open, and although the tennis establishment is willing to give the Djoker an exemption from its vaccination requirements, the government authorities are denying him entry to that country. The political heat is enormous. Many Australians have not seen their loved ones in a couple of years due to strict travel restrictions, and they're not too keen about loopholes being invented on the fly just for tennis stars.

Rather than get on the next plane back to wherever he came from, the Djoker has lawyered up and is cooling his heels in an immigration "hotel" in Melbourne, awaiting a Monday court hearing to see if he should indeed be deported. His camp has asked if he can be moved to a detention facility that has a tennis court, so that he can practice. The president of Serbia is calling it harassment.

I call it justice. It's gratifying to see the mighty having to play by the same rules as the little folks once in a while. Try the Vegemite, mate.

Something similiar is going on in American pro basketball. Another anti-vaxxer, Kyrie Irving, rejoined his Brooklyn Nets teammates last night for the first time since May. He won't be allowed to play in the team's home games because New York City won't allow it. But he did get to play last night in Indiana, and he played quite well. He had 22 points in 32 minutes on the court, and the Nets were +16 with him out there, winning by 8. But he'll only get to appear in half the team's contests, which may not be so hot for chemistry over the long haul.

It's hard to imagine giving up the kind of money that guys like these are losing over a shot that little school kids are getting. In one way, it says there is something more important to the athletes than money. But in another way, it shows that they're pretty much nuts.