According to tennis star Novak Djokovic, polluted water can be changed through positive emotions.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner also believes that spiritual health can be achieved by meditating in a mountainous corner of Bosnia — where an ancient civilization built pyramids that boast magnetic healing powers. (Scholars say the pyramids are just plain old hills.)
And these are only a couple of the wild and wacky proclamations of Djokovic, known on the international tennis circuit as a diva who seems to thrive on controversy — so much so that fellow player Nick Kyrgios has called him “a tool.“
Now, the superstar’s views on COVID-19 vaccinations have confined him to a hotel room in Melbourne, Australia, as authorities weigh whether he will be allowed to stay in the country and participate in the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 17.
An Australian court is scheduled to decide on whether Djokovic will be deported on Monday.
Djokovic, who has said he “wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine,” had a vaccine exemption from two independent medical panels organized by Tennis Australia to compete in the Australian Open. (Djokovic was not obliged to make the reason for his exemption public.) He finds himself in the cross-hairs of a fierce debate in a country where the virus is raging and there have been strict lockdowns.
“They’re trying to crucify him,” said his father, Srdjan Djokovic, who held a press conference at his pizza restaurant in Belgrade. He complained that his son will spend Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which begins Thursday evening, in the detention hotel room which, according to the Srdjan Blic newspaper in Serbia, is dirty and “full of bugs.” Dozens of Djokovic’s supporters are protesting for his release in both Serbia and Australia.
Said Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy prime minister, of the athlete: “You can’t just wander around the world thinking that because you are really rich you’re really above the laws of other nations.”
Here are some of the many ways that Djokovic, whose net worth tops $200 million, has stirred up controversy around the world.
Hanging out with a ‘killer’
An apparent Serb nationalist, he sparked ire in 2021 after being photographed with Milan Jolovic, the former commander who goes by the nickname of “Legend” for reportedly having saved the life of Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic. Jolovic’s paramilitary unit was linked to the massacre of thousands of Muslims at Srebrenica — the largest mass killing in Europe since the Second World War.
Political scientist Jasmin Mujanovic posted the pictures on Twitter and wrote: “The world’s No. 1 men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic spent the last few days hanging out w/ a former underling of convicted genocidaire Ratko Mladic, & contemporary genocide denier & secessionist Milorad Dodik.”
Being above quarantine protocols
This year’s Australian Open is not his first time bristling at COVID protocols. At the 2020 US Open, he refused to be part of the tournament’s bubble or stay with other players at the Marriott Hotel outside Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum.
Instead, he demanded to stay far away from them, shelling out more than $40,000 a week to rent a luxury private home.
Meanwhile, he’s put others at risk.
In 2020, as COVID surged around the world, Djokovic and a group of tennis pros organized a traveling charity event, the Adria Tour, through Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina. Djokovic and others were photographed partying shirtless in clubs and few participants wore masks.
The tournament was roundly condemned by fellow tennis pros, including Kyrgios, who tweeted: “Prayers up to all the players that have contracted COVID-19. Don’t @ me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’ — this takes the cake.”
Both Djokovic and his wife Jelena tested positive for COVID and went into lockdown at their home in Belgrade after the Adria Tour. Djokovic later apologized for putting people at risk during the event on Twitter.
Allegedly exaggerating injuries
After Djokovic took two medical time-outs in a fourth round against Tommy Robredo at the 2008 US Open, fellow player Andy Roddick sniped at a press conference that Djokovic “had overcome two hurt ankles as well as a “back (injury), and a rib and a cramp, bird flu, anthrax, SARS, common cough and cold.
“He’s either quick to call the trainer or he’s the most courageous guy of all time. It’s up for you guys to decide,” Roddick said.
During a 2015 Australian Open match against Andy Murray, Djokovic appeared to stumble, as if injured — but only after losing points. Murray, who lost, later said: “The third set was frustrating because I got a bit distracted when he fell on the ground … No, [Djokovic’s injuries were] not legitimate. I have no idea what the issue was.”
In 2016, commentator Patrick McEnroe called one of Djokovic’s medical timeouts a “complete abuse of the rules,” adding that officials “don‘t have the guts” to do anything about it.
Going woo-woo
Semir Osmanagic, a Texas businessman and self-styled explorer, introduced the tennis great to what he claims are the largest-human made ancient pyramids in the world — a claim refuted by scientists, who insist the “pyramids” are natural hills.
Nestled in the mountains in Visoko, a town in Bosnia, the pyramid complex has become a popular tourist attraction for New Age types, even as academics have called it pseudoscience and complained about the government funding excavations that could cause environmental damage.
But Djokovic has embraced it, visiting the site twice in the last two years. “There really is a miraculous energy here,” he said, according to AFP. “Our ancestors and the ancient civilization that built all this have left our generation something that is still being discovered.”
According to a local guide, Djokovic spent several hours meditating inside a tunnel complex during his last visit to Visoko last year.
Pushing ‘junk science’
Two years ago, the athlete expounded on his theories of positive energy as a way to purify food and water. “I’ve seen people and I know some people that, through that energetical transformation, through the power of prayer, through the power of gratitude, they manage to turn the most toxic food or most polluted water, into the most healing water,” he said.
Djokovic has also said he discovered that he was sensitive to gluten after a Belgrade physician told him to hold a slice of bread against his stomach, and his arm became weak.
This might have been a shock to his family, who continued their protests for Djokovic’s immediate release from their family pizza restaurant in Belgrade Thursday, focusing their attacks on Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia.
“You, famous Prime Minister of the faraway naturally beautiful country, are behaving according to your own principles, which have nothing to do with us and our principles,” said Srdjan Djokovic, sporting a “Free Novak” T-shirt. “We are humans, and you, sir, are not.”
