Novak Djokovic was bothered by a heckler during one of his most recent matches at the 2024 Australian Open.
The 36-year-old will likely never get rid of the anti-vaccination tag, despite clearly stating that he was never against vaccination. When the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, Djokovic created a lot of outrage among tennis fans for his stance on mandatory vaccination.
The Serbian refused to get vaccinated, stemming from his firm belief that people should have agency over their own bodies. As an athlete, Djokovic is very careful about what he consumes, and taking a vaccine was deemed unwise by the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
He maintained his stance that he wasn't anti-vaccination in any case but believed in freedom of choice, which in this case meant that he wouldn't be taking it.
His belief was so strong that he essentially altered his tennis legacy forever by skipping events in the United States because he couldn't enter the country as an unvaccinated foreign individual.
Some players even spoke about it, but their opinions differed, as everyone's opinion on vaccination in general, and his unvaccinated status was one of the reasons for the Australian Open saga from two years ago.
He's since maintained his stance on freedom of choice while also denying any anti-vaccination claims. It will likely never leave him because a heckler used it against him during a recent match in Melbourne.
As Djokovic was getting ready to finish off the match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, a heckler yelled out, "Get vaccinated, mate!" which got Djokovic to react.
He didn't make a scene or anything else, but he did serve an ace to seal the match, which some deemed as a fitting response to an inappropriate heckling from one of the fans, or better said, one of the spectators at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
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