News/Commentary

Vindicated! A year after being booted over vaccine refusal, Djokovic returns to reclaim Australian title

January 30, 2023 | | Print Article

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic made a triumphant return to Australia, capturing his 10th Australian Open Men’s Singles and his 22nd Grand Slam titles and cementing himself as the world’s top tennis player.

Djokovic is described by The New York Times as “the most commanding player of the last decade,” but he became a hero to even to conservatives who have never watched a match when, one year ago, he put his career on the line and took a stand against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations — a move that got him deported from Australia.

At the time, Djokovic had won the Australian Open a record nine times, and he was looking forward to making it an even ten.

“I am extremely disappointed with the court ruling to dismiss my application for judicial review of the Minister’s decision to cancel my visa, which means I cannot stay in Australia and participate in the Australian Open,” he said in a statement after a federal court unanimously voted to eject him from the country.

“I consider that Mr Djokovic’s ongoing presence in Australia may lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment generated in the Australian community, potentially leading to an increase in civil unrest of the kind previously experienced in Australia with rallies and protests which may themselves be a source of community transmission,” Australian Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke had written in court filings.

“Having regard to … Mr Djokovic’s conduct after receiving a positive Covid-19 result, his publicly stated views, as well as his unvaccinated status, I consider that his ongoing presence in Australia may encourage other people to disregard or act inconsistently with public health advice and policies in Australia,” he concluded.

At that point, Djokovic could have caved and few would have blamed him.

But he didn’t. His convictions were more important to him than his career.

“I respect the court’s ruling and I will cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country,” he said. “I am uncomfortable that the focus of the past weeks has been on me and I hope that we can all now focus on the game and tournament I love.”

It was an inspiration to many around the world who were forced to choose between their deeply-held beliefs and putting food on the table.

With his victorious return to Australia this year, the champion was vindicated.

https://twitter.com/DjokerNole/status/1619707140306001920?s=20&t=B8RkF6jVuLeosE8p0ZFGjQ

“I’m super blessed and grateful,” Djokovic said following his win. “That’s all I can say. I’m really trying to marvel and cherish every moment. I know that without my family, without my team, things wouldn’t be possible.”

“I try to pinch myself and really live through these moments,” he said. “Only the team and the family knows what we have been through in the last four or five weeks.”

Online, conservatives cheered his win and celebrated the stand he took.


But even as Djokovic is rewarded for taking a firm stand, others in the spotlight are still facing cancelation for expressing their views on the vaccine.

“Chuck” and “Shazam” star Zachary Levi dared to “hardcore agree” with a tweet from Moorhouse Group CEO Lyndon Wood that asked whether vaccine manufacturer Pfizer “is a real danger to the world.”

https://twitter.com/ZacharyLevi/status/1619599266607169539?s=20&t=UCnLXov69NhT6wC8AaDNtQ

The woke mob quickly descended, accusing the actor of “disappointing” them for supporting “antivax propaganda.”


So far, Levi, too, has stuck to his convictions.

“Just one example of what I’m referring to…” he later tweeted with a link to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release issued long before COVID, in 2009.

In it, the DOJ stated, “American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together “Pfizer”) have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today.”

Djokovic has some advice for living in today’s world.

Speaking to his last young interviewer after what must have been an exhausting day, Djokovic said, “Always believe in your dreams. I believe that is very important… Don’t let anybody tell you that imagination is not good. It is good. Just keep that dream going and nurture it.”

 

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Melissa Fine
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