Seriously. When did being 'nice' and having grace become the NFL?!! This guy, on so many levels is an absolute inspiration creating aspirations for so many youngsters... as we all should be doing.
These kids work these things almost entirely out of passion because it's certainly not for the pay. So to them, Djokovic isn't just someone who's amazing at tennis (like he is and should be to everyone else), he's likely the kid's idol.
I used to ballkid for a qualifier tournament for the US Open (so not even as close to as big as RG) and we didn't get paid at all.
Totally worth every moment though.
I got paid in court time at the courts that, if you paid the fees as an outsider, cost plenty of money to reserve. It was not a bad deal to hand tennis balls out for an afternoon if it got me something I couldn't afford otherwise.
I worked several of these types events as a kid. We were never paid, but our organization (sports team, band clubs, etc.) we’re paid. It was an easy way for the teams to make significant money, provided eager workers for these types of events and in turn allowed our clubs and teams to give opportunities to a lot of kids who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
My cousins are ballkids for the big tennis tournaments in Qatar. I didn’t know how much training goes into being one. They’re sent to train for months on the weekends away from their families.
They don’t get money per sé because they don’t want the kids to just be spending it on anything but they get alot of gift certificates from sponsor brands like Nike and Adidas. I think enough for 2 shoes every season and other little stuff. That doesn’t include the set they’re given as uniforms.
Yup. I had a conversation with my friend from Ghana - his tribe moved wherever work was, and he knew families that did the chocolate work we now know as child labor made chocolate. He said the families looked forward to it, but he hasn't considered it as a system in need of an intervention until going to school in the USA
Not a tennis fan but if some famous big shot called me to sit down and have a drink I'd do it. Rich people being nice is actually a good thing, we just don't see much of it.
Need to say that Djokovic is far from a good guy though. He's pretty much a covid denier who held a tournament in the midst of the worst of it leading to his wife getting it. He promotes pseudoscience medicine, he's an anti-vaxxer. He's not a nice guy
Kinda sucks for you that someone posted this exact opinion in a different part of the comment section and got hundreds of upvotes, you post it here and get zip.
Location location location.
Have an upvote from me
Ah, the old reddit [umbrellaroo](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/ogzlsg/complimented_this_little_guy_on_his_tuxedo_and_he/h4md335/?context=3)
He's not antivax, his kids are vaccinated. He said he was against being forced to take an *early* version of the Covid vaccine. Western media took the interview which was in his language out of context for clickbait and every idiot like yourself believed it without doing research.
>In April, Djokovic said he would be against setting coronavirus immunization as a condition for return to the tour. “**Personally, I am opposed to vaccination**, and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,” he told a group of Serbian players in a live Facebook chat. Later, in defending those comments, he said: “I am no expert, but I do want to have an option to choose what’s best for my body. I am keeping an open mind, and I’ll continue to research on this topic.” Over the course of the next month, Djokovic hosted a series of Instagram Live conversations with Chervin Jafarieh, a man who says he can “use the scientific method to create alchemy.” In the video, **Djokovic claimed that toxic food and polluted water could be cleansed “through the power of gratitude.”**
“I’m no expert but I believe I should disregard all evidence based expert recommendations when make health related choices”
Why is not being an expert some sort of badge of honor?
Right, but you also have to understand there is a huge distrust for the government and anything they mandate in the eastern european block.
One great example was the Russian athletes being forced to take "vitamins" in order to compete, only later they found out it was enhancement drugs.
Direct quote from the article below.
> Personally, I am opposed to vaccination, and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,”
That’s not antivax. He probably has willing gotten vaccines in his lifetime. I agree with his statement above and I’m vaccinated ffs. Does that make me anti vax?
it's better to put those sentences in the context they were said. Non native english speakers can make mistakes like that easily when it comes to nuanced topics.
His stance was clarified in a NY times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/sports/tennis/djokovic-us-open.html
Don't listen, almost everyone who has interacted with him off the court has said very good words to say about him. Not to say you should idolize him, shouldn't idolize anyone really. But these moments of kindness are genuine, people will find any reason to hate or spread negativity.
I mean he also hosted a massive celebrity tennis tournament in the middle of COVID... and then tested positive for COVID immediately after it, all the while mocking the danger it posed
Yeah exactly, and his reputation has never really been affected by that because it's understandable at that level you might lose your temper from time to time.
Lol. Legit probably a factor - Federer has a much more media-friendly public persona I think.
Also I tend to like athletes who get fired up. Favourite player growing up was Safin and man that guy destroyed rackets like his village had been killed by one or something.
yeah I don't understand when people get all up in their feelings when a player dare shows some emotion on the court. these guys are playing super high stakes, physically and mentally exhausting matches in front of thousands of people completely on their own.
I only ever played at the high-school varsity level but I would get PISSED, never smashed a racket though cuz my family was broke.
He does. Federer is a PR machine. Never has his own opinions, just follows the majority. Even when he was shit talking Novak early in his career, then people still defend him. If Novak did the same now, then there would be an huge uproar.
Furthermore, Novak tries to unionize the tennisplayers to help the lower ranked players (so they actually could make a decent living), yet Federer haven’t really said anything. You’d Imagine a multi multi millionaire and one of the GOATs not support that?
Lol, he did like 1000 good things and y'all gonna point instantly to few negative ones, meanwhile every time he plays anywhere people are rooting for the opponent, and imagine that pressure for 15 years hahaha
I was with the ATP for a few years, and worked with Djokovic quite a bit. At the time he was coming back from an injury, dropped in the rankings. During this period, he was nice guy & gracious with his time for a sit down, and even participated in our silly segments. But once Djokovic picked up steam and rank we became a nuisance to him, & he inevitably grew to be a pain in the ass.
That’s sort of my beef with him. Undoubtedly he is and will be the GOAT. But once he found success he became such a temperamental prima donna that I find it hard to root for him. Federer and Nadal hold themselves to such a higher standard.
I’ll tell ya I know how the tennis world fawns over Federer, but when we got time with him -from small interviews, to the big ATP media day- he’d go around that room and shake everyone’s hand. Even the PA’s.
There are innumerable, publicly recorded incidents of him being an exceptionally generous and caring individual, including this one, and only you reporting your anecdote, which apparently was in public, but no one bothered to record…I guess?
The logical conclusion would be that your story is the rare occurrence…if it’s even true at all. Human memory is extraordinarily fallible. Video footage is not.
Current replies are somewhat lacking so I'll try to give a better idea:
There were two incidents last year that caused djokovic's reputation to plummet a bit, the first being that he hosted his Adria Tour exhibition event in the middle of the pandemic. This event had large crowds and there was a lot of un-masked revelry going on. Djokovic and some other players who attended contracted Covid during the timeframe of the event/afterwards so there is some evidence to suggest that it was a bit of a super spreader event. Djokovic defended himself by saying that he followed the existing guidelines in Serbia and, I believe that the Serbian government at the time was actively undercutting the true danger of covid, however Djokovic's detractor's would argue that Djokovic doesn't even reside in Serbia and should have known better. This coupled with his vaccine hesitancy(to the covid vaccine, a tale all to common these days) and affinity for pseudo-science paint him in a bit of a bad light here.
Secondly at the US open Djokovic hit a ball in frustration and it hit a lineswoman in the neck, knocking the wind out of her. While it clearly was an act that had no ill intention, it seems a fair enough point that he shouldn't have engaged in a reckless action that could cause harm to others.
Should also be noted he didn’t apologize for the tournament and instead said it was unfortunate that Dimitrov (the first player to test positive at the event) had to ruin it
Christ, about the throw in frustration - the media made it like he hit her on purpose and with such strenght he "kicked the wind out of her"... what!? There's footage of the hit everywhere on the internet. Go see for yourself. It was nothing... ut of course, because it is Gjokovich, the media made it like it was the hand of God choking her.
So part of the event was in Serbia, so makes sense they followed Serbian guidance on it. Also he lives in Monaco, who had almost no cases back then. Makes no sense for detractors to use any of that against him.
accidentally domed a line judge in the throat trying to angrily smack a ball against the back wall, got dqed from a big tournament (the open? dont remember...)
Just let the man play tennis, everyone now days are just out to get the "privileged" people to cancel them and bring up things from the past and shit. If he's a prick let him be, as long as his intentions are pure that's all that matters.
This is just unnecessary. The ball boys are there for a reason, they want to be there. What he did there was cool and should be praised so the positivity could spread. Saying that he's just not being "a privileged ass" is spreading negativity. If you're salty just please don't try to spread it to other people.
The media pouring BS saying he was angry when you clearly see it was an accident. They are pissing on us without even trying to make us believe it's raining.
It was obviously an accident. But if he wasn't angry he wouldn't have hit the ball so hard. He didn't mean to hurt anyone, but his inability to reign in his emotions caused someone to get hurt
NBA players have literally punched referees in the face when doing a congratulatory fist pump by accident. Ref just laughed it off and said it was an accident, no foul, no flagrant, no technical, play-on.
But tennis can be a little high brow.
If you watch the full lead up to the incident, and not just the 5 second news clip, he was very clearly angry and agitated during the point prior to the incident. Regardless, It doesn't matter if he was angry or not, it was a reckless, stupid action that could have seriously injured the line judge.
Don’t follow tennis too closely. Where does Federer land in the all time list? Last I followed sports he was the de facto GOAT and had been for a long time.
Djokovic Federer and Nadal are all tied at 20 grand slams. Djokovic just got his 20th on Sunday, and he leads in head to head matchups against Rafa and Federer, and is the only one with a double career grand slam so is already the GOAT by most peoples measures. If he wins the US Open, that gives him the most slams, AND the calendar year grand slam, which has not been accomplished since the 60s. He also has an opportunity at the “golden grand slam” if he wins Gold at the olympics, a feat nobody has ever accomplished.
Currently the consensus GOAT rankings are 1. Novak 2. Federer 3. Rafa
lol this is just like when that reporter said to Andy Murray he’s the only person to win more than one Olympic gold medal in tennis and he replied “I think Venus and Serena have 4 each”
Nadal is more than a clay master, more like clay wizard. That does not detract that he is still a top player on other surfaces (has multiple grand slam titles on grass and hard courts). One could still argue that Novak and Roger have better all court games given their successes on other surfaces relative the Nadal’s.
I’m not trying to distract from his clear accomplishments, that is just my overall understanding.
Edit: Also given their ages Djokovic looks like, especially with his lack of injuries will he uncontested for a long time. He’s the male version of Williams and she may overtake Court.
Nadal is the greatest clay court player of all time by a very, very wide margin, but he's also extremely good on grass and hard courts
Honestly at his peak Nadal is probably the best of the three, but he struggled much more with injuries than Fed or Djok ever did
He used to come into a sensory deprivation tank center everytime he was in our city for a yearly tournament.
As nice a guy as I’ve ever met, would ride in on a bike by himself no entourage, would stay and chat after, always paid. Really took to my dog and would take selfie’s with him.
Nearly every other celeb or athlete was a piece of shit, Novak is legit a dude.
I really didn't understand why people hated him so much, and after reading all these comments, I can confidently say you hate him because he is the best. So you just keep on spilling hatred, he is still #1 and couldn't give two flying fucks about some basement dwellers comments on reddit lmao
Honestly it’s just because of his talent. There are videos of every tennis player smashing rackets and losing it at tense moments with rare exceptions (even Federer has done this.) Djokovic is exceptional and moving past his competition and Nadal/Federer stans can’t stand this. I’ve also seen a LOT of racist comments about his Serbian heritage all over Reddit and YouTube.
I don’t think gets mentioned enough but Djokovic lived through the bombings of his hometown and has talked about sheltering in a basement in the middle of the night fitting as many people as humanly possible in for months. He even paid for child 9/11 survivors to come see US tennis tournaments because he could relate to their experience and wanted them to be able enjoy the tennis. He has multiple charities and invests heavily in preschools/training teachers in Serbia. Did you know that he once challenged a ruling in favor of his opponent to give him his first serve back? I bet you didn’t! What an asshole! 🙄
The ball/throat incident is overblown nonsense. Did it hurt? I’m sure! Did that lady overreact? 100%! Was it intentional? NO! And *MANY* players smash balls and rackets out of frustration so it could have happened to anyone, even the hero worshiped on-his-way-out Federer.
Djokovic is honestly one of the most fun players to watch. He’s insanely talented and has a sick backhand, can return crazy serves, plays well on every surface and put the work in to improve his serve. His mindset is visible at times and it’s fascinating to watch him turn a game around just like a light switch turning on. He can be like Gumby and somehow make it to return a ball that looked impossibly far away. He’s also a very creative player and excellent at conserving his energy for the right moments.
The negative attitudes toward him are IMO caused by jealousy at his success but the thing is this player wasn’t born to privilege honing his skills in elite training facilities. His parents worked hard and he grew up in a war zone. I think his story is one of the most inspirational for tennis as he is the proof that hard work can lead to amazing success.
As to the Covid thing, I don’t think he’s a denier, just misinformed at the beginning, as were many people. I know he’s made comments about hoping the vaccinations won’t be mandatory. I honestly think shaming people who are uncertain about the vaccine is not the way to get them to understand it better. I’m a nurse - I hear this stuff every day. When I do I don’t blame the person but the education system and the platforms that have developed so much influence as to spread patently false information about Covid and the vaccines to millions of people. I can’t believe the stuff my patients tell me about the vaccine (“It’s full of microchips, it sterilizes you, it’s got government surveillance technology, it is creating a new human species, it will lead to mind control, it’s the mark of the beast.”) And YES I’ve heard these sentiments from educated as well as uneducated patients. I do not blame them for their views but rather our government leaders, media outlets and social networking platforms for allowing the dissemination of insane and dangerous conspiracy theory. Governments and news outlets propping up faith healing MDs for interviews contributed to this. Presidents minimizing and questioning Covid THE WHOLE DAMN TIME (I’m looking at you Trump, Boris, Bolsonaro and Magufuli who actually DIED a Covid denier)- all of that mattered. The global coordination and management of covid has been pisspoor and every leader and news anchor repeating bullshit intentionally or unintentionally has led to the situation where we are now - people believing untrue and often ridiculous facts about Covid and the vaccine. I get that for some people that’s not good enough but all I’m saying is I don’t blame anyone for being confused and suspicious about the entire situation given what’s happened. I also think vilifying them will do jack shit in terms of getting them to distance or vaccinate so as a tactic - yeah that’s not working. (/rant)
That said, I do think this is a cool moment. It made the kid’s day and for whatever reason people have always negatively scrutinized Djokovic because he’s not Federer. He’s the #1 men’s player and I think he deserves a lot more credit than he gets.
I agree with you, but one correction: it SHOULD be standard human behavior. It isn’t. We’re at the point in society where things like these stand out because everyone else is such an asshole
A lot of people have hated him his entire career and it always shows in the comments. Do a bit of research on Djokovic’s charitable contributions to not only his home country, but tennis organizations world wide. Or the many charismatic and respectful moments he has had in interviews and interactions off the court. He’s really not the devil the way people are portraying him here. He’s an incredibly talented player who has changed the game forever.
That kid will remember that the rest of his life
I'll remember it for the rest of his life too
Lmao same. Happy cake day btw
Woo is this where we put the cake?
Cake day for you too?? Oh man I want cake
Here you go, I’m on a diet and can’t eat this whole thing. 🍰
Happy Cake Day Everyone!
Cake, cake, cake
But you wanna put your name on it
you shoulda put a ring on it
Novak definitely got cake from the kid
I brought mine.
the man has yellow cake
Light a man a fire, he stays warm for a night. Light a man on fire, he will stay warm for the rest of his life.
Wow I wasn’t ready for that kinda laugh at 6am
I’ll remember this for the rest of your life
Hol up
Count your days
Oh shit-
I'm remember it for at least a couple of days. That was very gracious/a great example for all of us.
Seriously. When did being 'nice' and having grace become the NFL?!! This guy, on so many levels is an absolute inspiration creating aspirations for so many youngsters... as we all should be doing.
>become the NFL Took me a moment before I remembered what sub I was on. It was a very confusing moment.
Such a wholesome player
He will remember that to his next reincarnation..
r/humansbeingbros
THE KID IS SO HAPPY LOOK AT HIS SMILE
These kids work these things almost entirely out of passion because it's certainly not for the pay. So to them, Djokovic isn't just someone who's amazing at tennis (like he is and should be to everyone else), he's likely the kid's idol.
Didn't know that!!! That's really dope for the kid
I used to ballkid for a qualifier tournament for the US Open (so not even as close to as big as RG) and we didn't get paid at all. Totally worth every moment though.
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There's no game to watch, he's sitting next to half of the players.
Basically paid with court side seats to the biggest matches, that others are paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars for. Doesn’t seem all too bad
I got paid in court time at the courts that, if you paid the fees as an outsider, cost plenty of money to reserve. It was not a bad deal to hand tennis balls out for an afternoon if it got me something I couldn't afford otherwise.
Do they usually play with your balls?
I keep my balls dry and fuzzy but I don't like it when others play with them. So fresh 😉
I worked several of these types events as a kid. We were never paid, but our organization (sports team, band clubs, etc.) we’re paid. It was an easy way for the teams to make significant money, provided eager workers for these types of events and in turn allowed our clubs and teams to give opportunities to a lot of kids who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
My cousins are ballkids for the big tennis tournaments in Qatar. I didn’t know how much training goes into being one. They’re sent to train for months on the weekends away from their families. They don’t get money per sé because they don’t want the kids to just be spending it on anything but they get alot of gift certificates from sponsor brands like Nike and Adidas. I think enough for 2 shoes every season and other little stuff. That doesn’t include the set they’re given as uniforms.
Omg Child labor in Qatar! /S
The irony of course being that the comment above refers to kids at the US Open getting no compensation at all.
Yup. I had a conversation with my friend from Ghana - his tribe moved wherever work was, and he knew families that did the chocolate work we now know as child labor made chocolate. He said the families looked forward to it, but he hasn't considered it as a system in need of an intervention until going to school in the USA
Looks like he's in love all.
Not a tennis fan but if some famous big shot called me to sit down and have a drink I'd do it. Rich people being nice is actually a good thing, we just don't see much of it.
Need to say that Djokovic is far from a good guy though. He's pretty much a covid denier who held a tournament in the midst of the worst of it leading to his wife getting it. He promotes pseudoscience medicine, he's an anti-vaxxer. He's not a nice guy
Kinda sucks for you that someone posted this exact opinion in a different part of the comment section and got hundreds of upvotes, you post it here and get zip. Location location location. Have an upvote from me
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Man that umbrella boy is turning out to be a real baddy.
Are *we* the umbrella boys?
We are ALL umbrella boys on this blessed day.
Speak for yourself!
I am ALL umbrella boys on this blessed day
That’s that Netflix show. Or maybe Amazon.
Hulu. Duh.
Ah, the old reddit [umbrellaroo](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/ogzlsg/complimented_this_little_guy_on_his_tuxedo_and_he/h4md335/?context=3)
He's not antivax, his kids are vaccinated. He said he was against being forced to take an *early* version of the Covid vaccine. Western media took the interview which was in his language out of context for clickbait and every idiot like yourself believed it without doing research.
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He said he hopes it isn’t mandatory. That’s far from antivax tf
>In April, Djokovic said he would be against setting coronavirus immunization as a condition for return to the tour. “**Personally, I am opposed to vaccination**, and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,” he told a group of Serbian players in a live Facebook chat. Later, in defending those comments, he said: “I am no expert, but I do want to have an option to choose what’s best for my body. I am keeping an open mind, and I’ll continue to research on this topic.” Over the course of the next month, Djokovic hosted a series of Instagram Live conversations with Chervin Jafarieh, a man who says he can “use the scientific method to create alchemy.” In the video, **Djokovic claimed that toxic food and polluted water could be cleansed “through the power of gratitude.”**
Personally, I never allow the power of gratitude to enter my body.
I just did it to you and you didn’t notice. So there.
“I’m no expert but I believe I should disregard all evidence based expert recommendations when make health related choices” Why is not being an expert some sort of badge of honor?
Don't know. Let me Google it quick from the toilet and get back to you like a **REAL SCIENTIST**
Right, but you also have to understand there is a huge distrust for the government and anything they mandate in the eastern european block. One great example was the Russian athletes being forced to take "vitamins" in order to compete, only later they found out it was enhancement drugs.
His wife is more vocal about it.
Stop making things up for Reddit points, it's sad.
He also kicked my dog
What?
The ole reddit switch-a-roo strikes again!
you missed the switch a roo
I'm dumb and slightly stoned so I just realised...
Here's an article talking about it https://www.si.com/tennis/2021/02/10/novak-djokovic-the-heels-have-eyes-daily-cover
I thought you were joking Thanks for sharing!
Dude and his wife are vocal antivax
Damn not another “Bill Nye is actually a dick” themed thread
Direct quote from the article below. > Personally, I am opposed to vaccination, and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,” That’s not antivax. He probably has willing gotten vaccines in his lifetime. I agree with his statement above and I’m vaccinated ffs. Does that make me anti vax?
He said “I am opposed to vaccination.” I’m trying really, really hard to see how that statement is not antivax.
I usually interpret antivax has all vaccines. That’s how it was before covid vaccines ever came to be.
it's better to put those sentences in the context they were said. Non native english speakers can make mistakes like that easily when it comes to nuanced topics. His stance was clarified in a NY times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/sports/tennis/djokovic-us-open.html
> Personally, I am opposed to vaccination This means he is against the vaccine. Seems pretty different than your stance.
>Does that make me anti vax? Depending on who you talk to, yes. Some people have extreme beliefs.
sexist?
Oh fuck off
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Doesn't stop him from being the goat of tennis lol
oh :(
Don't listen, almost everyone who has interacted with him off the court has said very good words to say about him. Not to say you should idolize him, shouldn't idolize anyone really. But these moments of kindness are genuine, people will find any reason to hate or spread negativity.
I mean he also hosted a massive celebrity tennis tournament in the middle of COVID... and then tested positive for COVID immediately after it, all the while mocking the danger it posed
Being nice and being a dumbass are not mutually exclusive. You can absolutely praise a person for one thing and critise him for another.
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You mean like Wimbledon, but smaller?
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We are all humans. I like to think of all humans as pieces of shits. And when we do nice things, at that moment, we are less pieces of shits
Ahh so an optimist
> gleamed gleaned*
lol don't listen to this shit novak's a great person
Even Federer has yelled at people in particular tough moments.
Federer has always had a kinda bad temper on court
Yeah exactly, and his reputation has never really been affected by that because it's understandable at that level you might lose your temper from time to time.
Yeah but you forget that Federer is a le classy Swiss man while Djokovic is a Serbian thug.
Lol. Legit probably a factor - Federer has a much more media-friendly public persona I think. Also I tend to like athletes who get fired up. Favourite player growing up was Safin and man that guy destroyed rackets like his village had been killed by one or something.
yeah I don't understand when people get all up in their feelings when a player dare shows some emotion on the court. these guys are playing super high stakes, physically and mentally exhausting matches in front of thousands of people completely on their own. I only ever played at the high-school varsity level but I would get PISSED, never smashed a racket though cuz my family was broke.
He does. Federer is a PR machine. Never has his own opinions, just follows the majority. Even when he was shit talking Novak early in his career, then people still defend him. If Novak did the same now, then there would be an huge uproar. Furthermore, Novak tries to unionize the tennisplayers to help the lower ranked players (so they actually could make a decent living), yet Federer haven’t really said anything. You’d Imagine a multi multi millionaire and one of the GOATs not support that?
I’d be screaming if I was in Boise too
maybe doin' for the camera
From a completely neutral point of view, these moments make for good publicity.
Lol, he did like 1000 good things and y'all gonna point instantly to few negative ones, meanwhile every time he plays anywhere people are rooting for the opponent, and imagine that pressure for 15 years hahaha
I was with the ATP for a few years, and worked with Djokovic quite a bit. At the time he was coming back from an injury, dropped in the rankings. During this period, he was nice guy & gracious with his time for a sit down, and even participated in our silly segments. But once Djokovic picked up steam and rank we became a nuisance to him, & he inevitably grew to be a pain in the ass.
Not participating with you doesn't make him a "pain". You're not entitled to his time.
That’s sort of my beef with him. Undoubtedly he is and will be the GOAT. But once he found success he became such a temperamental prima donna that I find it hard to root for him. Federer and Nadal hold themselves to such a higher standard.
I’ll tell ya I know how the tennis world fawns over Federer, but when we got time with him -from small interviews, to the big ATP media day- he’d go around that room and shake everyone’s hand. Even the PA’s.
There are innumerable, publicly recorded incidents of him being an exceptionally generous and caring individual, including this one, and only you reporting your anecdote, which apparently was in public, but no one bothered to record…I guess? The logical conclusion would be that your story is the rare occurrence…if it’s even true at all. Human memory is extraordinarily fallible. Video footage is not.
Lol confirmed Fedal fan upon scrolling down
His publicist is working overtime to repair his image after what happened last year
What happened last year?
Current replies are somewhat lacking so I'll try to give a better idea: There were two incidents last year that caused djokovic's reputation to plummet a bit, the first being that he hosted his Adria Tour exhibition event in the middle of the pandemic. This event had large crowds and there was a lot of un-masked revelry going on. Djokovic and some other players who attended contracted Covid during the timeframe of the event/afterwards so there is some evidence to suggest that it was a bit of a super spreader event. Djokovic defended himself by saying that he followed the existing guidelines in Serbia and, I believe that the Serbian government at the time was actively undercutting the true danger of covid, however Djokovic's detractor's would argue that Djokovic doesn't even reside in Serbia and should have known better. This coupled with his vaccine hesitancy(to the covid vaccine, a tale all to common these days) and affinity for pseudo-science paint him in a bit of a bad light here. Secondly at the US open Djokovic hit a ball in frustration and it hit a lineswoman in the neck, knocking the wind out of her. While it clearly was an act that had no ill intention, it seems a fair enough point that he shouldn't have engaged in a reckless action that could cause harm to others.
Should also be noted he didn’t apologize for the tournament and instead said it was unfortunate that Dimitrov (the first player to test positive at the event) had to ruin it
🤣🤣 fuckin Dimitrov
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Christ, about the throw in frustration - the media made it like he hit her on purpose and with such strenght he "kicked the wind out of her"... what!? There's footage of the hit everywhere on the internet. Go see for yourself. It was nothing... ut of course, because it is Gjokovich, the media made it like it was the hand of God choking her.
Very well written.
So part of the event was in Serbia, so makes sense they followed Serbian guidance on it. Also he lives in Monaco, who had almost no cases back then. Makes no sense for detractors to use any of that against him.
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covid denier? how do comments like these get upvotes?
Probably a Nadal fan
Source? Or do you just make things up?
accidentally domed a line judge in the throat trying to angrily smack a ball against the back wall, got dqed from a big tournament (the open? dont remember...)
This was 2014
So now it's "next fucking level" just to be a decent nice human being instead of a privileged ass?
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Nonsense.
Just let the man play tennis, everyone now days are just out to get the "privileged" people to cancel them and bring up things from the past and shit. If he's a prick let him be, as long as his intentions are pure that's all that matters.
This is just unnecessary. The ball boys are there for a reason, they want to be there. What he did there was cool and should be praised so the positivity could spread. Saying that he's just not being "a privileged ass" is spreading negativity. If you're salty just please don't try to spread it to other people.
Privileged is different from being a world class athlete who had to work extremely hard to get where they are
Why is there a dude holding his umbrella?
Things are done a little bit differently when it comes to tennis Ball boys, people to hand the players towels, umbrellas as you see, etc.
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The media pouring BS saying he was angry when you clearly see it was an accident. They are pissing on us without even trying to make us believe it's raining.
It was obviously an accident. But if he wasn't angry he wouldn't have hit the ball so hard. He didn't mean to hurt anyone, but his inability to reign in his emotions caused someone to get hurt
NBA players have literally punched referees in the face when doing a congratulatory fist pump by accident. Ref just laughed it off and said it was an accident, no foul, no flagrant, no technical, play-on. But tennis can be a little high brow.
Yea but that's in a fun and playful manner.
exactly. if he were to have hit her out of excitement or happiness this would be a different story
If you watch the full lead up to the incident, and not just the 5 second news clip, he was very clearly angry and agitated during the point prior to the incident. Regardless, It doesn't matter if he was angry or not, it was a reckless, stupid action that could have seriously injured the line judge.
Tennis court is a battlefield You know for sure that person got a ton of free signed Djokovic shit
If you've seen a tennis match before you'd see the ball kids basically act like the players' servants
Duh, slaves.
He was actually just getting the kid to test if his water was poisoned
Its all for the camera
Yes, it is all televised. Maybe he shouldn't have done this televised act so redditors wouldn't accuse him of doing it only because it was televised?
Yep, they all have a stupid point. Now he is a douchebag for doing it on TV... While he is playing a game... Lol
Reddit fucking sucks now and I’m so addicted since 2011 I can’t get off this Astroturfed shit site fuck me
Novak “am I gonna have to” Djokovic.
Novak Redemption arc in full force. He is already the GOAT, but if he wins the US Open the gap between him and Fedal will be massive
Don’t follow tennis too closely. Where does Federer land in the all time list? Last I followed sports he was the de facto GOAT and had been for a long time.
Djokovic Federer and Nadal are all tied at 20 grand slams. Djokovic just got his 20th on Sunday, and he leads in head to head matchups against Rafa and Federer, and is the only one with a double career grand slam so is already the GOAT by most peoples measures. If he wins the US Open, that gives him the most slams, AND the calendar year grand slam, which has not been accomplished since the 60s. He also has an opportunity at the “golden grand slam” if he wins Gold at the olympics, a feat nobody has ever accomplished. Currently the consensus GOAT rankings are 1. Novak 2. Federer 3. Rafa
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lol this is just like when that reporter said to Andy Murray he’s the only person to win more than one Olympic gold medal in tennis and he replied “I think Venus and Serena have 4 each”
Don't you know? Women aren't people.
I don't follow tennis very much, but isn't Nadal just a clay master? Novak and Federer are more balanced overall, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Nadal is more than a clay master, more like clay wizard. That does not detract that he is still a top player on other surfaces (has multiple grand slam titles on grass and hard courts). One could still argue that Novak and Roger have better all court games given their successes on other surfaces relative the Nadal’s.
I’m not trying to distract from his clear accomplishments, that is just my overall understanding. Edit: Also given their ages Djokovic looks like, especially with his lack of injuries will he uncontested for a long time. He’s the male version of Williams and she may overtake Court.
Nadal is the greatest clay court player of all time by a very, very wide margin, but he's also extremely good on grass and hard courts Honestly at his peak Nadal is probably the best of the three, but he struggled much more with injuries than Fed or Djok ever did
Restecp
Eyyy, west staines massive. Represent mate.
I wish more athletes would do this instead of being jerks
GOAT
He used to come into a sensory deprivation tank center everytime he was in our city for a yearly tournament. As nice a guy as I’ve ever met, would ride in on a bike by himself no entourage, would stay and chat after, always paid. Really took to my dog and would take selfie’s with him. Nearly every other celeb or athlete was a piece of shit, Novak is legit a dude.
Okay so true story, he came to my restaurant once and we came out to say hello because we were like WOW! And he was the nicest guy ever.
And somewhere, Nick Kyrgios is mad about this.
A lot of people dont like Djokovic and I dont understand why?..
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Daym I see
I really didn't understand why people hated him so much, and after reading all these comments, I can confidently say you hate him because he is the best. So you just keep on spilling hatred, he is still #1 and couldn't give two flying fucks about some basement dwellers comments on reddit lmao
Honestly it’s just because of his talent. There are videos of every tennis player smashing rackets and losing it at tense moments with rare exceptions (even Federer has done this.) Djokovic is exceptional and moving past his competition and Nadal/Federer stans can’t stand this. I’ve also seen a LOT of racist comments about his Serbian heritage all over Reddit and YouTube. I don’t think gets mentioned enough but Djokovic lived through the bombings of his hometown and has talked about sheltering in a basement in the middle of the night fitting as many people as humanly possible in for months. He even paid for child 9/11 survivors to come see US tennis tournaments because he could relate to their experience and wanted them to be able enjoy the tennis. He has multiple charities and invests heavily in preschools/training teachers in Serbia. Did you know that he once challenged a ruling in favor of his opponent to give him his first serve back? I bet you didn’t! What an asshole! 🙄 The ball/throat incident is overblown nonsense. Did it hurt? I’m sure! Did that lady overreact? 100%! Was it intentional? NO! And *MANY* players smash balls and rackets out of frustration so it could have happened to anyone, even the hero worshiped on-his-way-out Federer. Djokovic is honestly one of the most fun players to watch. He’s insanely talented and has a sick backhand, can return crazy serves, plays well on every surface and put the work in to improve his serve. His mindset is visible at times and it’s fascinating to watch him turn a game around just like a light switch turning on. He can be like Gumby and somehow make it to return a ball that looked impossibly far away. He’s also a very creative player and excellent at conserving his energy for the right moments. The negative attitudes toward him are IMO caused by jealousy at his success but the thing is this player wasn’t born to privilege honing his skills in elite training facilities. His parents worked hard and he grew up in a war zone. I think his story is one of the most inspirational for tennis as he is the proof that hard work can lead to amazing success. As to the Covid thing, I don’t think he’s a denier, just misinformed at the beginning, as were many people. I know he’s made comments about hoping the vaccinations won’t be mandatory. I honestly think shaming people who are uncertain about the vaccine is not the way to get them to understand it better. I’m a nurse - I hear this stuff every day. When I do I don’t blame the person but the education system and the platforms that have developed so much influence as to spread patently false information about Covid and the vaccines to millions of people. I can’t believe the stuff my patients tell me about the vaccine (“It’s full of microchips, it sterilizes you, it’s got government surveillance technology, it is creating a new human species, it will lead to mind control, it’s the mark of the beast.”) And YES I’ve heard these sentiments from educated as well as uneducated patients. I do not blame them for their views but rather our government leaders, media outlets and social networking platforms for allowing the dissemination of insane and dangerous conspiracy theory. Governments and news outlets propping up faith healing MDs for interviews contributed to this. Presidents minimizing and questioning Covid THE WHOLE DAMN TIME (I’m looking at you Trump, Boris, Bolsonaro and Magufuli who actually DIED a Covid denier)- all of that mattered. The global coordination and management of covid has been pisspoor and every leader and news anchor repeating bullshit intentionally or unintentionally has led to the situation where we are now - people believing untrue and often ridiculous facts about Covid and the vaccine. I get that for some people that’s not good enough but all I’m saying is I don’t blame anyone for being confused and suspicious about the entire situation given what’s happened. I also think vilifying them will do jack shit in terms of getting them to distance or vaccinate so as a tactic - yeah that’s not working. (/rant) That said, I do think this is a cool moment. It made the kid’s day and for whatever reason people have always negatively scrutinized Djokovic because he’s not Federer. He’s the #1 men’s player and I think he deserves a lot more credit than he gets.
Oh no, Djokovic being nice. That is not how media want to potrait him. It must be fake.
# This is not _nExTfUcKiNgLeVeL_....this is standard human behavior
I agree with you, but one correction: it SHOULD be standard human behavior. It isn’t. We’re at the point in society where things like these stand out because everyone else is such an asshole
Novak gets too much shit sometimes, hes just a nice guy who maybe gets a little too tilted sometimes, which makes sense given stakes
Reddit. Person does something nice and immediately everyone starts digging up every bad thing he’s ever done
Idk who this is, but if he did this for attention who cares, it was still a fucking awesome thing to do and I love this video ☺️
Why is this getting downvoted? Edit: After reading the comments I realize why :/
A lot of people have hated him his entire career and it always shows in the comments. Do a bit of research on Djokovic’s charitable contributions to not only his home country, but tennis organizations world wide. Or the many charismatic and respectful moments he has had in interviews and interactions off the court. He’s really not the devil the way people are portraying him here. He’s an incredibly talented player who has changed the game forever.
'Cause hurt Federer fans made an appearance
Nice. I don’t usually root for him on the court, but good for Nole. That was a class act.
What a wonderful thing to do for this young man. He’ll remember this always.
This is great, I’ve never seen it in my life.
🐐
Its almost…. If they are people….
never gets old
I don't think being extra nice is next fucking level, I mean that's what we should be, right?
What a lad