Thread by @luvinthetennis

Oh? Well here's what #Djokovic fans don't understand: (1) Why you & Clarey--successful, privileged sportswriters & commentators w big platforms--feel the need to taunt Novak fans on a day when we're so disappointed & trying to rally each other. /1

https://twitter.com/ptbodo/status/1562869803521818625

We're just ordinary people. Grocery clerks, teachers, bus drivers, nurses. Some have the means to travel to tournaments; the vast majority don't. Our lives have been enriched by our favorite player we follow w enthusiasm. T/o the year, over & over, he gives us joy. /2

His tennis soothes a sore back, a hard day of dealing with a snotty customer, grief from a painful loss, the boredom of recovering from surgery. It brightens a weekend when the kid's failing algebra or the ex missed another child support check. /3

We're grateful for the happy distraction of our champ & thru the years--for many, our attachment to Novak is over a decade old--we can't believe our luck that we chose our favorite player so well. He gives & gives & gives on the court, & we celebrate with him. In short, /4

we owe him a lot & so do you. So we can't help but wonder why you have no respect for us when it is our attention & love for tennis that funds your work. & when, surely, you know what it's like to be a devoted fan? (2) Yes, you owe him, too. & we wonder why /5

you have so little respect for a man who's done far more for tennis than all but a few players who have ever lived. You & Clarey--& your many colleagues who take gratuitous shots at Novak--presumably love tennis, given that you've built your careers on it. /6

Yet when you make a remark about his character it's vax vax vax. You seem to care about the good things other players do--why not him? Put aside his gargantuan tennis stats. What about all those other tennis accomplishments born of good character? /7

His generosity to players, kindness & patience w fans, sincere congrats at the net, openness in the pressroom, willingness to spend $ & reputation on the PTPA. & we all watched him develop the strength to battle Fedal & their huge fan base--both in the stands & in media. /8

No one enjoys heckling & hate. We've seen Novak tighten up like any other player in the face of thunderous applause for his misses. But his resilience is almost unnatural so he battles & usually wins. Sometimes I think that's what guides your coverage of him. /9

Your fascination with his resilience makes you callous. Why take care w your language (& for some, your work); why bother to be respectful to a machine who will keep going regardless of WHAT you do to him, right? The fact that Novak could bounce back from Australia to win /10

Rome, make a run at RG that probably would have meant the championship if NOT for Australia, & then to win Wimbledon, is a show of extraordinary resilience & sb a HUGE sports story. I'm certain he's the only player who could do this. Yet fans didn't get a single day /11

to celebrate that 7th Wimbledon bc media antagonists were immediately on the Novak Bad beat, tweeting about vax vax vax. That's just journalism? Really? I think real journalism would question a non-evidence-based vax mandate dropped long ago by almost all other countries. /12

I think real journalism would question the USTA's & USO's disinterest in advocating for an unvaxed player once CDC guidelines stated vaxed & unvaxed sb treated the same... & once we knew Moderna is a USO sponsor. I think a *responsible* journalist doesn't shit-post. /13

I think a good tennis journalist would see what a huge sports scandal Australia was & cover it with a critical eye. I think a good, thoughtful writer of any kind should be able to interrogate the mindset that produced the silly, nasty tweet that inspired this thread. /14

In this extremely hard year for Novak & his fans, after shrugging off the stunning post-AO comeback, a tennis journalist taunts Novak & his fans on the day we absorb another blow. OK. You asked what don't we get about this simple transaction: Vax or don't play. /15

There's nothing we don't get about it. That's why we're so upset. /16

Many of us take bodily autonomy to be a crucial civil right. Those who don't nevertheless understand that's how Novak feels & they support his position; when you're defending a crucial civil right, if you have the strength & resources to endure then you must not bend. /17

We see v clearly that the state & media are in lockstep as they claim coercion is free choice. We wonder how so many intelligent people struggle to understand the difference, & why so many cheer coercion. I suspect you can't think beyond what you hear in your own circle. /18

Many of us see that the high bar for a vax mandate was never met & likely ALL of us at this stage see that it certainly can't be met *now*. Likely almost all of us are vaxed--I am--but we have the integrity & empathy to care about what vax mandates do to unvaxed people. /19

We expect state power to be exercised fairly & public policy to be based on evidence. We have the critical thinking skills to see when these standards are not met & the integrity to demand better, even when we are not personally negatively affected. /20

Finally, our loyalty to Novak comes from watching him on the court & in the pressroom. It comes from interviews, &, for some, interactions. Unlike other fans, we don't see him thru a media filter. So we know his position isn't based on "my body is a holy temple BS." /21

His conviction is sincere & it has served him well. If he retires tomorrow he'll be remembered as *a* GOAT & arguably *the* GOAT. If tennis world stops allowing politics to interfere w the sport he should be competitive a few more years bc of the way he treats his body. /22

Right now, we expect a lot more time w Novak. - So - While nobody ever asked for your understanding or sympathy, we fans would appreciate a modicum of respect & professionalism. Put the shit-posts in DMs to your buddies & leave us alone. /23

To #Djokovic fans: If you've made it thru this thread, thank you for reading. I don't expect Bodo or any other media figures to read or care about what I write. I posted this for us. Looking forward to interacting w you when Novak is on the court again. Cheers. ❤️🐺 /24 ~