Former Australia tennis star todd Woodbridge feels it will be rather unfortunate if Novak Djokovic fails to make it to Melbourne next year for the Australian Open 2022 as the Serb’s vaccine status is unknown. It will be really unfortunate for him to not get to defend his title next year in Australia.
Woodbridge feels that would be a chance at history and an opportunity for Djokovic to win his 21st Grand Slam moving past the 20 mark of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He has been extremely dominant on the hard courts of Melbourne as he won his ninth Grand Slam in Australia earlier this year.
However, Djokovic’s participation is still in jeopardy as Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews recently highlighted his stance on unvaccinated players. The unvaccinated players won’t be allowed to enter the state of play in the tournament. Meanwhile, Djokovic has time and again denied sharing his vaccination status. So many people believe that the Serb may not have taken the vaccines.
Woodbridge highlights how this can have larger implications all over the sporting world. If Djokovic decides that he does not want to play then it will send in a strong message about his views on the vaccine matter.
“I think given what’s on the line, it would be amazing if he didn’t turn up. Yeah, I do think he’ll play,” Woodbridge said on Thursday. “[If Djokovic doesn’t play], it would be his own personal statement in a sense of what he believes in.”
The Australian Doubles legend feels that the Serb’s openness to learning more things and having opinions about other things have been a big trait in his success. He feels that this outlook has helped him break free and try out the different types of things to prolong his career.
“I suppose that’s what’s given him that point of difference in his career, where he made the decision to make changes to his diet and his fitness and in his health. And that’s up to him to make those choices,” Woodbridge added.
Lastly Woodbridge feels that he can sense of a major problem in the larger scheme of things if Djokovic does not feature in the Australian Open. “I don’t think Australia’s going to be the only issue for him moving forward. It’s more about how does the rest of the year play out if that (not playing) were to happen,” Woodbridge concluded.
