Sport is second to country: Amritraj on Djokovic saga | Tennis News – Times of India

Holding up the Djokovic issue as an example Amritraj warned that players should be aware of the consequences of choice.
Vijay Amritraj was categorical in his assessment of the Novak Djokovic saga that played out in Melbourne on the eve of the Australian Open. “If you choose not to take the vaccine then play in countries that allow it,” Amritraj said.
The 68-year-old tennis legend, who is still recovering from a bad case of Covid-19, tracked from his LA home the Australian Federal Court’s move to uphold Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel the world No.1’s visa.
“While the choice to be vaccinated may be that of the player,” Amritraj said in an exclusive chat with TOI, “with choice come consequences.”

Excerpts:
What lessons can tennis take away from the Djokovic story?
This whole situation has been handled wrongly in a variety of ways. If you go back to our Davis Cup final in 1974, the government made the call of not playing South Africa. Then again in 1987 it was the government’s prerogative to not play against Israel. My meeting with the then Prime Minister took things forward and eventually we played that tie.
When you look at something like this — sport will, and always should, come second to the country. The country first and that decision is made by the government. So whatever the decision is – right, wrong or indifferent – you go with what the government says. If you are to be vaccinated to enter my country, then that is it. It’s what it is and nobody should try and wipe off the law.
As Djokovic says, the choice to take the vaccine is yours, but then so are the consequences.

Do you think the events of the last few days would dent Djokovic’s mental fibre when he returns to the Tour?
He is the world’s toughest competitor mentally. He’s arguably more mentally strong than anyone I have seen over the last 40-50 years. I think you’d probably have to go back to Connors to see if you can find a guy with this mental tenacity.
That doesn’t take anything away from how Nadal plays, how tough he is right from the first ball. Federer seems to be a little more graceful and gallant and chivalrous, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t compete. He just makes it look easy.
That said every Grand Slam not played is a Grand Slam lost for Djokovic. That’s where he is at his career, at the age he is. He comes into all four Grand Slams as the odds-on favourite, even the French Open potentially. So every quarter lost is going to make a difference, each Slam would be crucial, as he continues to chase history.
Will this tarnish Djokovic’s legacy?
You’d be amazed by the number of followers Djokovic has world-wide. He is loved and respected in his country. I think they look at him as a way to keep Serbia on the world map. He has more followers than people think as we are all in love with Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) and we keep bringing that up. There were so many people that were upset when he lost that last match at the US Open last year, a win would’ve taken him into the history books. After that final, he had the sympathy vote.
So, will it tarnish his image? Probably in the short term, that’s till he wins Wimbledon or comes back from two match-points down in a Slam final or something like that. Then things will have a different look again.
Would a vaccine mandate have helped in avoiding this rather embarrassing sequence of events?
At some point this has gone from a medical issue to a political one. Given all that we have endured these last two years, I don’t understand why taking a vaccine is a choice as opposed to a mandate. Keep it strictly medical, listen to experts, take the vaccine and the booster.