Novak Djokovic's shot was named 'Moderna Shot Of The Day' at the 2023 US Open, which is funny because he rejected the Moderna shot one year earlier.
He didn't only reject the Moderna vaccine, of course, because he rejected all of them regardless of what company made them. The Serbian was quite open about not getting vaccinated, believing everybody should have autonomy over their own body.
In that sense, he exercised that autonomy to disregard any vaccination mandate, ultimately preventing him from playing at the US Open last year. The country didn't allow unvaccinated foreign nations such as Djokovic to enter the country.
The US Open didn't have a vaccine mandate for players as we had unvaccinated American players competing, but foreign nationals simply couldn't enter the country. No exemption came for Djokovic either, so he remained home. This year's US Open had none of that as the 'pandemic is over' so Djokovic was able to both enter the country and compete at the event.
He ended up winning the event because he played amazing tennis, and the Serbian actually won the Moderna Shot of the Day honour during his final match, and final day of the tournament. Of course, that might be the only Moderna thing he would accept from them, making this whole thing a bit funny.
The shot in question was actually the championship point which is interesting in itself as it's not a spectacular shot. There were better ones in the match by Djokovic, but probably due to the importance of it, this one was selected.
Either way, Djokovic produced the Moderna Shot of the Day one year after not wanting to take their other shot. It's just a funny coincidence with the words and meanings and the context behind why he missed last year's event. All is good, though, as he's leaving New York with the US Open trophy.
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