It was Djokovic’s casualness that saw him make light of a global pandemic, resulting in four top players, his wife Jelena and some others, test positive for the virus.
World No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic will have a fortnight of isolation to mull over the havoc that can be wreaked on the human body should a virus latch onto its respiratory airways. It was Djokovic’s casualness that saw him make light of a global pandemic, resulting in four top players, his wife Jelena and some others, test positive for the virus. But this isn’t just about Djokovic inviting top tennis players for an exhibition tournament and thumbing his nose at social-distancing protocols.
Sport and its prima donnas have been finding it difficult to rest it out in the shadows. All across the world, the calls for sport to resume, from business interests, grows because a bunch of supremely fit superstars cannot fathom that the human body can cave under an infection, at a mere sneeze or a cough. Sequestered in their bubbles where millions adore them for feats their bodies can perform, sportspersons refuse to acknowledge that something that’s not painted in glory, like war, can halt their athletic exuberance. So, golf goes on in America before a bunch is felled by COVID-19. And football is pulling out all stops across Europe to complete their big dollar leagues.
Mercifully the Olympics got postponed, but global superstars, all super fit, just can’t wrap their brains around a body that can be weakened by a flu. This bull-headedness works well for the heavily-invested officials, broadcasters and sponsors who are in danger of going bankrupt if live sports don’t resume quickly. Were the players more circumspect about taking to the field, the resumption of sports would be much later and smoother. Djokovic just went and got infected, instead of waiting for science to do its job.