FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
One day you'll have to open your eyes team Djokovic.
At least this guy gets it:
__________________________________________________________
Djokovic rant (from an ex true fan) (not me but I was also a fan many moons ago)
Let me preface this by saying that I have been one of Djokovic’s most vivacious and loyal supporters; I stood up for him during the Adria Tour fiasco, and subsequently, when he contracted COVID; I defended him fervently when he throated the line judge in Flushing Meadows, a year and a half ago; I watched with glee as Djokovic lifted grand slams eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, and while I was happy for Medvedev, I still felt upset and disappointed by the ending to last year’s US Open. Unfortunately, I can no longer call myself a Djokovic fan. Here’s why…
Let’s start at the beginning: I’m a relatively new tennis fan. I’ve played the sport since I was six, and I’ve vaguely followed the pros for quite a while. I supported Agassi back in the day, and then transferred that support to Federer and del Potro. However, I was never a major fan; while I’d occasionally watch a final or a semifinal of one of the slams, that was the extent of my engagement with professional tennis.
I vaguely remember Djokovic lifting the title at Wimbledon in 2011, and I also have a scant memory of him beating Nadal at the subsequent US Open. I remember watching the highlights for that scintillating 2012 Australian Open final, but for the most part, I spent the early 2010s as the tennis fan equivalent of a journeyman: occasionally dipping into the tour, but primarily absorbing myself with other engagements.
In Spring, 2013, my love for professional tennis would begin. I was at my favorite burger place, and I noticed that tennis was on. The match was on sizzling red clay, “Right, it’s the French Open”, I deduced. The two combatants were not unfamiliar to me. One was Rafael Nadal, who was, as the commentators explained, the three time defending champion. The other, was a stalky Serbian wearing a soothing aqua-blue Uniqlo kit, I quickly recognized him to be Novak Djokovic.
As I watched the match progress, I was stunned by the brutal physicality of the rallies, the blazing shots, the unbelievable movement of both players, and the seemingly endless points; it felt more like a gladiator duel than a tennis match. Then, something seemingly bizarre happened, Djokovic sprinted to the net, and put away an easy overhead. All of a sudden, I noticed he had lost the point, and Nadal was pointing at him. On replay, it became apparent that he had touched the net. I watched in awe as this random glitch in Djokovic’s seemingly robotic and impervious game derailed him. All of a sudden, Djokovic went from leading, to behind, and then, it was over. “Joue, set, et, match, Nadal.”, the umpire announced. Somewhat awestruck, all I could think was, “What the **** did I just watch?”, suffice to say, I was hooked.
From there, my obsession with pro-tennis would explode. I watched as Murray, seemingly out of nowhere, lifted the 2013 Wimbledon trophy. I vividly remember watching the Rogers Cup final that year, and watching as Nadal beat Djokovic in what seemed to be yet another impossible epic. I had seen highlights from the 2012 Australian Open final, and had watched some of the 2011 US Open final, but I was - for the first time - realizing how astonishingly physical Nadal and Djokovic matches were. Enamored, I watched as Nadal and Djokovic again faced off, this time in the final of the 2013 US Open. Again, it was Nadal who got the better of Djokovic.
I had no strong feelings about either man at the time, and I was still very much a Federer devotee. But, as the years of the 2010s flew by, I found myself increasingly supporting Djokovic. By the time the 2018 Wimbledon semifinal rolled around, I was cheering “IDEMO” like a depraved Serbian after happy hour. I watched as Djokovic axed my former favorite player, del Potro, in the following grand slam final, and I cheered for Djokovic the whole time.
I loved Djokovic’s fighting spirit, and his rough class. Perhaps Djokovic wasn’t the polished diplomatic businessman type like Federer, nor was he reminiscent of the straight-talking, non-controversial Nadal. Djokovic would poke fun of reporters, say what he thought, and yell and growl on court. However, he was funny, and very gracious to his opponents in defeat; he was a human who wasn’t afraid to put his flaws and his strengths on full display.
I continued following Djokovic, watching in ebullience as he defeated Dominic Thiem at the 2020 Australian Open. Then, the PR nightmares began. As the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world, Djokovic was holding a tour with no masks, and no testing. This tour, was, as we all now know, a catastrophe. But I stood by Djokovic: “perhaps he’s just a very misguided man who’s also very passionate about tennis”, I reasoned. I defended him after his default from the US Open that same year; and I still kinda do, actually, basically every player has done what he did (hit a ball behind them), and he got unlucky. It was still reckless, don’t get me wrong, and he deserved to be defaulted, but I don’t think he meant to hit the line judge.
I’ve always believed that Djokovic is nothing more than misguided, but with this COVID test scandal, I can no longer advocate on his behalf. He’s either a liar, and / or someone with no regards to the lives and well-beings of others; either he exposed countless people to COVID, or he fraudulently faked a COVID test. (This seems more probable — was he really just gonna skip Australia?) Djokovic has created for himself a messy moral stain on tennis. His self righteousness has gotten the better of him, and has taken him from someone who seemed misguided, but still probably a decent guy, to a megalomaniac narcissist who cares little for people not named Novak Djokovic.
I still love his tennis, and appreciate his fighting spirit, but I will never root for him again. There is a 99.99% chance that he’s either morally, legally or ethically reprehensible. I can no longer give him either the benefit of the doubt, or plausible deniability.
I hope he gets deported.
At least this guy gets it:
__________________________________________________________
Djokovic rant (from an ex true fan) (not me but I was also a fan many moons ago)
Let me preface this by saying that I have been one of Djokovic’s most vivacious and loyal supporters; I stood up for him during the Adria Tour fiasco, and subsequently, when he contracted COVID; I defended him fervently when he throated the line judge in Flushing Meadows, a year and a half ago; I watched with glee as Djokovic lifted grand slams eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, and while I was happy for Medvedev, I still felt upset and disappointed by the ending to last year’s US Open. Unfortunately, I can no longer call myself a Djokovic fan. Here’s why…
Let’s start at the beginning: I’m a relatively new tennis fan. I’ve played the sport since I was six, and I’ve vaguely followed the pros for quite a while. I supported Agassi back in the day, and then transferred that support to Federer and del Potro. However, I was never a major fan; while I’d occasionally watch a final or a semifinal of one of the slams, that was the extent of my engagement with professional tennis.
I vaguely remember Djokovic lifting the title at Wimbledon in 2011, and I also have a scant memory of him beating Nadal at the subsequent US Open. I remember watching the highlights for that scintillating 2012 Australian Open final, but for the most part, I spent the early 2010s as the tennis fan equivalent of a journeyman: occasionally dipping into the tour, but primarily absorbing myself with other engagements.
In Spring, 2013, my love for professional tennis would begin. I was at my favorite burger place, and I noticed that tennis was on. The match was on sizzling red clay, “Right, it’s the French Open”, I deduced. The two combatants were not unfamiliar to me. One was Rafael Nadal, who was, as the commentators explained, the three time defending champion. The other, was a stalky Serbian wearing a soothing aqua-blue Uniqlo kit, I quickly recognized him to be Novak Djokovic.
As I watched the match progress, I was stunned by the brutal physicality of the rallies, the blazing shots, the unbelievable movement of both players, and the seemingly endless points; it felt more like a gladiator duel than a tennis match. Then, something seemingly bizarre happened, Djokovic sprinted to the net, and put away an easy overhead. All of a sudden, I noticed he had lost the point, and Nadal was pointing at him. On replay, it became apparent that he had touched the net. I watched in awe as this random glitch in Djokovic’s seemingly robotic and impervious game derailed him. All of a sudden, Djokovic went from leading, to behind, and then, it was over. “Joue, set, et, match, Nadal.”, the umpire announced. Somewhat awestruck, all I could think was, “What the **** did I just watch?”, suffice to say, I was hooked.
From there, my obsession with pro-tennis would explode. I watched as Murray, seemingly out of nowhere, lifted the 2013 Wimbledon trophy. I vividly remember watching the Rogers Cup final that year, and watching as Nadal beat Djokovic in what seemed to be yet another impossible epic. I had seen highlights from the 2012 Australian Open final, and had watched some of the 2011 US Open final, but I was - for the first time - realizing how astonishingly physical Nadal and Djokovic matches were. Enamored, I watched as Nadal and Djokovic again faced off, this time in the final of the 2013 US Open. Again, it was Nadal who got the better of Djokovic.
I had no strong feelings about either man at the time, and I was still very much a Federer devotee. But, as the years of the 2010s flew by, I found myself increasingly supporting Djokovic. By the time the 2018 Wimbledon semifinal rolled around, I was cheering “IDEMO” like a depraved Serbian after happy hour. I watched as Djokovic axed my former favorite player, del Potro, in the following grand slam final, and I cheered for Djokovic the whole time.
I loved Djokovic’s fighting spirit, and his rough class. Perhaps Djokovic wasn’t the polished diplomatic businessman type like Federer, nor was he reminiscent of the straight-talking, non-controversial Nadal. Djokovic would poke fun of reporters, say what he thought, and yell and growl on court. However, he was funny, and very gracious to his opponents in defeat; he was a human who wasn’t afraid to put his flaws and his strengths on full display.
I continued following Djokovic, watching in ebullience as he defeated Dominic Thiem at the 2020 Australian Open. Then, the PR nightmares began. As the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world, Djokovic was holding a tour with no masks, and no testing. This tour, was, as we all now know, a catastrophe. But I stood by Djokovic: “perhaps he’s just a very misguided man who’s also very passionate about tennis”, I reasoned. I defended him after his default from the US Open that same year; and I still kinda do, actually, basically every player has done what he did (hit a ball behind them), and he got unlucky. It was still reckless, don’t get me wrong, and he deserved to be defaulted, but I don’t think he meant to hit the line judge.
I’ve always believed that Djokovic is nothing more than misguided, but with this COVID test scandal, I can no longer advocate on his behalf. He’s either a liar, and / or someone with no regards to the lives and well-beings of others; either he exposed countless people to COVID, or he fraudulently faked a COVID test. (This seems more probable — was he really just gonna skip Australia?) Djokovic has created for himself a messy moral stain on tennis. His self righteousness has gotten the better of him, and has taken him from someone who seemed misguided, but still probably a decent guy, to a megalomaniac narcissist who cares little for people not named Novak Djokovic.
I still love his tennis, and appreciate his fighting spirit, but I will never root for him again. There is a 99.99% chance that he’s either morally, legally or ethically reprehensible. I can no longer give him either the benefit of the doubt, or plausible deniability.
I hope he gets deported.
