Rafael Nadal has just won his first match of the year and not surprisingly, he was asked to comment about the incredible situation around Novak Djokovic. The world number 1 was detained on arrival in Australia after his visa was revoked. Djokovic is notoriously against vaccination and he managed to get a very controversial medical exemption. That was outrageous for many Australians, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison stepped in to stop Nole at the border. Novak Djokovic has now appealed in order to play the Australian Open.
Nadal on Djokovic
In the meantime, when asked, Nadal didn’t seem very happy with Djokovic to comment:
“I think if he wanted, he would be playing here in Australia without a problem. He went through another – he made his own decisions, and everybody is free to take their own decisions, but then there are some consequences.
Of course, I don’t like the situation that is happening. In some way, I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision.”
“The world has suffered enough”
Then Nadal added:
“From my point of view, that s the only thing that I can say is I believe in what the people who knows about medicine says, and if the people says that we need to get vaccinated, we need to get the vaccine. That’s my point of view.
I went through the COVID. I have been vaccinated twice. If you do this, you don’t have any problem to play here. That’s the only clear thing.
The rest of the things, I don’t want to have or to give to you an opinion that I don’t have the whole information. The only clear thing for me is if you are vaccinated, you can play in the Australian Open and everywhere, and the world, in my opinion, has been suffering enough to not follow the rules.”
Nadal in Melbourne, ranking, and results in 2022
At the moment ranked no.6, Nadal owns a 1-0 record in 2022. Nadal is now competing in Melbourne where he toppled Richard Berankis 6-2 7-5.
Nadal won 88 titles in his career: 21 on hard courts, 62 on clay courts, 1 on indoor courts and 4 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Novak Djokovic in 2022
LWWWWWWLWW Currently ranked no.1, the Serbian played his last match on the 3rd of December 2021 when he defeated world no.30 Marin Cilic 6-4 6-2 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic fought against each other 58 times. Their actual record is 30-28 for Djokovic. Previously, the last time when they competed against each other, Novak Djokovic won 3-6 6-3 7-6(4) 6-2 in the semifinal in Paris (French Open) in June 2021.
You can see them in action in the following highlights.
