It has happened that we attribute to Novak Djokovic a calculated sincerity in his odes to benevolence, and even that we get annoyed by his exacerbated gnagnanism, to ask the crowd for giant hugs in the gallery to celebrate life and love. Always this story of the youngest of the siblings, who wants mom to love him as much as the two grown-ups, with their perfect little life as classy and fair-play tennis champions. Not to mention his relationship to science and his allergy to vaccination, the source of all the hype of the last few days.
Nonetheless, it is time to agree that the unfolding of events in Melbourne has somewhat helped to revise our harsh judgment. If the world number 1 finally manages to find himself on the short Monday to chase the historic Grand Slam record, which remains to be proven as the Australian state seems determined to demonstrate that we can always be more ridiculous than the day of ‘before putting his own things into it, he will owe it above all to his extraordinary mastery of himself, his behavior, and his reactions since he found himself embarked in this nameless galley.
A customs clearance worthy of Chevallier and Laspalès
One only needs to read the full report of his exchanges with the Australian border police, to realize the administrative impasse that awaited him as soon as he got off the plane. A delectable candy, between an episode of The Office and
the legendary sketch from the train to Pau des Chevaliers du Ciel. More than four hours of exchanges – counting the interruptions – banging your head against the walls, with a customs officer stuck to the procedure like an Orange advisor who asks you indefinitely to restart the box when you have already done it 300 time.
– “Are you of Australian nationality? “
– “Why are you coming to this country?” “
– “So you have a medical exemption, show it. “
– “Redo see. “
– ” Very well very well. “
All this to be announced, after three hours of hanging around, that the visa application is canceled, because, “you know”, “I am not questioning what was promised to you, but once in Australia, it is the federal government that decides. So there, I’m going to cancel your visa, unless you have some convincing evidence to show me within the next twenty minutes. “That is the precise moment when we would have completely melted a fuse on our side, tied with the” my shift is over, another person will take care of your file “asserted at 5:20 am by the officer in charge of a Djokovic forbidden. Forbidden, but still remarkably calm.
Not once during this dialogue of deaf-mutes, when it is so easy to dive for arrogance in such cases, even to offer a small note according to the democratic maturity of the country concerned, not once, therefore, the Serbian does not let out a disrespectful word.
“You put me in a delicate position”
The elastic man is even as sweet as a consular diplomat of a nation in debt up to the neck, apologizing on several occasions for quite normal confusions for anyone who is not a constitutional law teacher in Canberra, and obeying without muffle when we explain to him that a place awaits him in a hotel for refugees in town. A simple “you put me in a delicate position” at the height of tension. Hat.
At this stage, Djoko no doubt understood that the matter had become political, but he does not make the mistake of rushing to his Insta account to denounce a human rights violation or a humanitarian scandal never seen in the 21st century. Nor that of reminding, casually, his donations in favor of the country during the great fires of 2020, in a moment of almost understandable demago weakness. Perhaps he was helped by all these meditation sessions advocated by his former “guru” Pepe Imaz, a daily practice at the world number 1 for more than ten years.
His cautious silence on such a flammable issue, which combines both political sovereignty and public opinion, has visibly paid off in court. Anthony Kelly, the judge concerned by the case, very quickly wondered “what more this man could have done” to prove his good faith, Before ordering his immediate release.
An impeccable com strategy?
Again, no vindictive statement or cookie-cutter statement, a simple tweet from the Rod Laver Arena where the boss has already installed his gaiters as if to show that he has moved on: “I want to stay and try to participate in the Australian Open. I am happy and grateful that the judge went back on canceling my visa. Despite everything that has happened, I want to stay and try to compete in the Australian Open. I came here to play one of the biggest tournaments in front of amazing spectators. “
A media fault a little tarnished, all the same, by the delusional activism of the Serbian political class and those close to the Djoker, who called a new lunar press conference in Belgrade on Monday, to celebrate “the biggest victory of Novak’s career ” in the midst of their champion’s trophies and an overhead projector which looped extracts of his exploits on the circuit. The circus lasted a good half an hour before Djordje Djokovic cut the microphones to the cheers, when a journalist dared to ask him why his brother had walked without a mask everywhere the days following his positive test, on December 16.
Shut up, mom and dad
Five more minutes and maybe Alex Hawke, the Australian Immigration Minister who may still decide to send the world number 1 home in the next charter, was pushing the red button. But now that the individual is free to move, Australia has nothing more to gain from rolling muscles like a fighting bull. Barring a bad word from the boy, of course. After all, it can gush out without warning, like a unhappy racket throw on a Grand Slam linesman.