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Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas accuses Novak Djokovic of making other players ‘look like fools’ for following rules


Stefanos Tsitsipas has accused Novak Djokovic of making the other players ‘look like fools’ for following the Australian vaccine requirements.

The Australian Open says 97% of players enter the tournament fully vaccinated, with the remaining ones granted medical exemptions.

Djokovic is one of those attempting to play with a medical exemption, claiming a recent Covid-19 infection means he was unable to get vaccinated.

Tsitsipas, though, is having absolutely none of it though, and he says Djokovic is not showing respect to the tournament, Australia, or his ATP colleagues.

“For sure, he’s been playing by his own rules and has been doing what not many players had the guts to do, especially after the ATP announced certain criteria for players to enter the country,” the world number four told India’s WION news.

“No one really thought they could come to Australia unvaccinated and not having to follow the protocols.


READ MORE: ‘Novak Djokovic visa situation is confusing and regretful,’ says top ten star


“It takes a lot of daring to do and putting the grand slam at risk, which I don’t think many players would do.

“There are two ways to look at it. One side of it is that almost every single player is fully vaccinated and have followed the protocols to play in Australia.

“On the other hand, it seems not everyone is playing by the rules – a very small majority chose to follow their own way, which kind of makes the majority look like fools.”

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.