TENNIS
Moyá: "Djokovic will put his career in danger if he doesn't get vaccinated"
Rafa Nadal's coach Carlos Moyá chatted to OndaCero about the Spanish star as well as Novak Djokovic's situation after the Australia Open.
At some point over the next few days, Novak Djokovic will break his silence. "I would like to tell the media to please be patient, as I will talk in more detail about everything that happened there in 7-10 days," the Serbian tennis star said during a meeting with president, Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on Thursday. But in the meantime, the rumours and opinions about his situation haven't stopped.
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The latest to air their thoughts on Djokovic was Carlos Moyà, Rafa Nadal's coach, who spoke to Onda Cero. "I don't think he is an anti-vaxxer, it's just that he has always defended the individual's right to choose, but now he has found himself in a very difficult situation," Moyà explained. "I doubt very much that Rafa's victory in Australia made him change his stance. But what is clear, is that if he doesn't get vaccinated, he is going to rule himself out of the battle in which he has spent long fighting for. I think he's going to find it very difficult to take part in Grand Slam tournaments if he has not received the vaccine and his career would be at serious risk". Nole has saved a match ball regarding accusations that he presented a false PCR test result to gain entry to Australia, as Serbian prosecutors have rejected the claim.
Nadal seized his chance
As for Nadal, Moyà couldn't praise him enough. "The most incredible things is how he knew how to seize his opportunity. Roger had two shots at winning his 21st Grand Slam but it didn't work out for him. Novak was unable to ride out the pressure and played one of his worst games in many years in the 2021 US Open final. But Rafa somehow managed to bounce back after a poor start and keep his nerves under control, while knowing that this was a golden chance in his career," he said.
"I am very optimistic and I don't think that this will be Rafa's last Grand Slam. He's going to be one of the big favourites at Roland Garros 2022 if he stays healthy, and that tournament is the big objective right now," he concluded.