Ali v Novak: The Greatest wins by a knockout

In terms of a sportsperson sacrificing a good chunk of their career on the altar of “standing up for my principles”, the gold medal goes to The Greatest, none other than Muhammad Ali.

Refusing to be drafted in the wrong-headed Vietnam war – fought from the American side by a disproportionately large number of black Americans, the put-upon, the down-trodden, and those without the financial resources or contacts to get exemptions – the great boxer drew a line and never budged.

“Them Viet Cong,” Ali famously said, “never called me n-----.”

And the Nixon administration could put him in prison if it liked, but he was still not going to go to Vietnam.

“I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality ... If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.”

Ali, as was ever his wont, stood his ground, even as he was stood down from fighting for three years at the peak of his career, and was fully vindicated. His principles were golden. He would not fight against his will in a war which talked about giving people their “freedom”, when right before his eyes, there in America, 22 million of his own people had no such thing.

And now in the third decade of the 21st century, another sportsman is making huge headlines for standing up for his own “principles” – and even being lauded for so doing.

Step forward, Novak Djokovic.

Uh, no. Not on to the podium for silver next to Ali. I mean over there. Keep going. I am going to pull this bull by the tail, and when you can’t hear him roar, keep going some more.

The issue is your now outspoken refusal to take vaccines against COVID, as you confirmed in last night’s interview with the BBC. Let’s unpack some of your statements.

You started by saying if you were prevented from going to future tournaments and sacrificing your chance to overtake Rafael Nadal who has 21 grand slams to his credit, then “that is the price I’m willing to pay”.

Great, mate.

To become the GOAT in tennis, you need a killer forehand, backhand, serve, overhead smash, great fitness, enormous mental strength, and one more thing insufficiently appreciated until you came along. You also need mental acuity strong enough not to fall down into absurd rabbit holes of transparent nonsense – see, specifically, anti-vaxxer nonsense and ...

And, sorry, what?

You’re not an anti-vaxxer, you say?

“I understand and support fully the freedom to choose whether you want to get vaccinated or not ... I was never against vaccination.”

Mighty big of you, Tex. You’re not an anti-vaxxer, and yet? And yet, you say you’re ready to sacrifice the rest of your career, rather than get the simple pricks in the arms most of the rest of have got. If that is not being anti-vax, what does anti-vax actually look like in your world?

But, please, do go on.

“I have not spoken about this before and I have not disclosed my medical record and my vaccination status because I had the right to keep that private and discrete.”

Ah, yes, the old chestnut. Your own “medical” records are “your business” alone.

Sounds great, and irrefutable at first glance.

But, as discussed, it doesn’t stand up to even the first light scratch of examination. See, whether or not I have had treatment for the pox 40 years ago really is my business, just as it is your business whether you have or have not had an operation on your weak left knee. Neither thing affects anyone else, so everyone else can butt out.

But getting vaxxed? I’ll go with the bleeding bloody obvious. First up, it is barely “a medical procedure” at all, and secondly whether or not you are vaxxed really is the business of everyone you are likely to come into contact with, because it speaks to the danger you do or don’t present to others around you. It’s like having alcohol in your blood. At home, no one’s damn business. But if I want to get behind the wheel of a car while pissed as a newt – Australian expression, look it up – it is no longer my business alone, but the business of the state to know, to get me off the damn road and eliminate the danger I present to others.

“But I’ve always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body. For me, that is essential.”

Absolutely. But who is holding you down to get the vax injections? Anyone threatening to put you in the gulag unless you do?

No one. Yes, it is your right, your “freedom to choose”. But just as you assert that right to assure your own safety, how can you refute the right of venues, tournaments, states and nations to assert their own rights to safety, by stopping the unvaxxed and ... ?

And what now? Ah, yes, us big meanies who did you down on your recent trip Down Under.

“No one in that entire process of the Australian saga has asked me on my stance or my opinion on vaccination. No one. So I could not really express what I feel and where my stance is, neither in the legal process, neither outside.”

You couldn’t express yourself, and get your views across? Are you freaking SERIOUS?

Novak, get your iPhone out. Go to the Twitter app. Look down there, just below your name. It is says “9M”. That’s nine million people on the other end, ready to hear what you have to say. Whatever you had to say was always going to get a fair hearing, yes?

Look, I could go on – and on and on and on, trust me – but let’s leave it here. The bottom line remains.

It’s great to stand up for your principles, BUT ONLY WHEN THEY ARE PRINCIPLED. Yours aren’t. They are dangerous.

By observing your “principles”, you have demonstrably endangered those who attended the party after your tournament in Belgrade last year – where people actually contracted COVID-19 – the schoolkids you met with while COVID-19 positive in mid-December last, and the French journalist you sat down opposite while shedding a viral load you didn’t bother telling him about. Does anything, ever, get more unprincipled than that?

Novak?

Get in the bin, and trouble us no more.

Meantime, CARN Nadal! (Look it up.)

@Peter_Fitz

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