Losing Novak Djokovic from the US Open wasn’t worth it

As the US Open got underway this week, you may have noticed Novak Djokovic was missing from the field. The Serbian tennis player withdrew from the competition last week,citing the United States’ entry policy for foreign nationals as the reason. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, which in my humble opinion isn’t the worst place to be these days, you’ll know this is because of his reluctance to get vaccinated against Covid. Djokovic has been one of the firmest public figures in his stance on this issue. In some ways, his stance has eclipsed sports altogether.

Of course, there are other professional athletes who’ve also deferred vaccination, causing a kerfuffle in their wake — like Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, who earlier this year said he believes he made the “right decision” in refusing the vaccine, despite having to sit out so many games. But while Kyrie Irving is a fine basketball player, he’s not Michael Jordan. Novak Djokovic kind of is — which is why it’s a real shame he’s not playing at the US Open this year.