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Rafael Nadal set social media on fire when he remarked how Novak Djokovic would have no option but to be vaccinated against COVID-19 if the ATP made it compulsory. "Novak Djokovic will have to be vaccinated if he wants to keep playing tennis at the top level," Rafael Nadal said to a Spanish daily.
The debate was started by Novak Djokovic a few weeks earlier, when he said he would "have to take a decision" on whether to be vaccinated against coronavirus. "Personally, I'm against vaccinations. I don't want anyone to force me to take a vaccine to travel," Novak Djokovic had said, immediately polarizing opinion all around the world.
On Thursday, Noah Rubin, journalist Ben Rothenberg and 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli joined Josh Cohen in a chat with Tennis Majors, discussing in detail Novak Djokovic's anti-vaccine stance and the subsequent future of the tour in 2020.
Bartoli came down heavily against the Serb, saying he should 'think about humanity' while making such statements. "Obviously, you can have your own belief but you also have to think about people around you, because when you come back to the circuit, you will be surrounded by a lot of people," she said.
Many people have criticized Novak Djokovic's comments, and have questioned the way he has exercised his freedom of speech over the last few weeks. "I think he has to think about the security of everybody. If it's the only way to treat it (coronavirus), I think he will have to do it," Bartoli added.
Journalist Ben Rothenberg is certainly not one to mince his words, and he added: "Novak Djokovic is kinda out on a limb here saying he wouldn't want to take a vaccine without even knowing what the vaccine is. The vaccine hasn't even been properly tested yet and Novak is already against it."
Rothenberg referenced Rafael Nadal's response in particular, saying the Spaniard was absolutely right in his warning to the Serb.
"I think Rafael Nadal has had a lot of support from other players in the fact that, if there is a vaccine which would prevent the spread of it (coronavirus), you should not be allowed back to the work place without taking it," Rothenberg said.
"It is how vaccines work in culture, they don't work if you have people opting out of it. So I think it is necessary for Novak Djokovic to have to do research and get real information, and accept the vaccine when it is tested and proved effective," he added.
Novak Djokovic has been causing one controversy after another during this lockdown period, most famous of which are his Instagram interactions with Chervin Jafarieh. Djokovic spoke in detail about energetic transformations, telepathy and positive thoughts during the chats, even saying that emotions have the power to change the molecular structure of water.
As the conversation between Bartoli, Rothenberg and Rubin went on, Rothenberg slammed Novak Djokovic for voicing so many controversial opinions during such a difficult period.
"Novak Djokovic taking his moment, in this health crisis, to bring on all these fake medical experts is dangerous at a time like this. He is a person with a massive following especially in Serbia, and he is broadcasting these beliefs," said the journalist.
"He should be aware that a lot of responsibility comes with doing that. People treat him as an authority on things, even on topics he is not an expert on by traditional means. People believe just because Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon, he must have all the health and body answers out there," Rothenberg added.
Bartoli and Rubin agree with Rafael Nadal's stance on scrapping of 2020 season
A few weeks ago, Rafael Nadal said he was in support of scrapping the 2020 tour season entirely due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I think 2020 has been practically lost. I’m hopeful of being able to start next year," the 19-time Grand Slam champion had said.
Asked to give his thoughts on Rafael Nadal's opinion, Noah Rubin said, "I say scrap it. We're at this point of time where we're wasting time again. If you look at any medical evidence, you can see that we are gonna have a second round of this (coronavirus) coming up, especially when you see everything is opening so quickly."
Emphasizing how tennis' governing bodies can use this downtime well, the American continued, "So why are we not using this time to try and evolve tennis? We have these exhibitions going on. But we can have these when things start opening slowly, and we can make this new league and experiment at this time."
Marion Bartoli concurred with Rubin, and expressed concern about players risking their health and fitness for the sake of money.
"Realistically, if we are to keep our health as first priority, I don't think it is manageable and doable (to continue 2020 season). We still have to keep social distancing, and wear masks, but we can't play tennis wearing a mask. We will be having interactions with say, ballboys, opponents, tournament personnel. I just don't see how we can have tournaments wearing a mask and following social distancing rules," Bartoli said.
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