Nadal is a coward and it's in his vested interest that Djokovic not play, so whatever he says isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Yes. Djockavic was to play in the AO in order to defend his title as last year’s champion and to try to win the tournament in order to be break the 3 way tie (one being Nadal) for most championships won. As a life long tennis fan who loved Nadal and was lukewarm about Novak, my opinion has changed 180 degrees. There were about 10 other players who were lowered ranked who were given exemptions and let into the country only to be harassed and embarrassed because TPTB wanted to send a message to the unvaccinated Australians that the government is in charge so don’t cross them. Many Australians were angry with Novak for not being a sheep like them (he’s had Covid). Australia and its citizens are lost. They are now Good Germans.
“Nadal is a coward and it’s in his vested interest that Djokovic not play, so whatever he says isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Nadal didn’t say for him not to play, he doesn’t care. He said:
“If he’s playing finally, OK. If he’s not playing, The Australian Open will be a great Australian Open with or without him.”
He’s defending the tournament whether he plays or not as this whole screw up by Djokovic is being turned on to the country and not Djokovic who caused it. And the US does the same thing so he would have been denied entry into the US for the same reason. His last test was in mid December and it was positive. And he further made his entry more difficult when he ignored the test results and did a promo with people right after the test without informing them and maskless.
wy69