Myriad posters on X, formerly Twitter, late on Sept. 10 noted (36-year-old!) Novak Djokovic’s 24th Grand Slam championship. Extending his own men’s record—Margaret Court won as many when tennis was as Tiddlywinks to today’s game—was accomplished in front of signs for Moderna Inc., the maker of COVID-19 vaccines and a main advertiser for this year’s U.S. Open.
Yet as the world well knows, the greatest tennis player of all time—and arguably among the greatest athletes ever—forswore the COVID-19 vaccinations on offer, even though it meant that he would be banned from numerous tournaments, every one of which he would have been seeded No. 1.
He also was banned from the United States and Australia altogether.
Think of what his statistics would be had this not been so. They’re already unbelievable.
Instead of taking the vaccine, he followed his own rigorous health regime of diet and exercise that few of us could emulate. I know I couldn’t.
The results, however, speak for themselves, including, shortly, an unheard-of 400 weeks at world No. 1.
Djoker, as he’s called, also is an intelligent fellow who speaks several languages.
So I have a not-so-modest proposal. Why not make Novak director-general of the World Health Organization?
He would certainly do a better job than the objectively pro-Chinese communist incumbent who drags behind him all kinds of COVID-19-related misjudgments and misrepresentations.
Instead of diktats from the top, we would have an actual example of physical excellence to mirror and inspire us.
What would be better for humanity on average: to be a race of people who are gluten-free, pescatarian, and exercise daily or a race that takes COVID-19 booster shots annually or semi-annually on the advice of some totalitarian statists who claim medical expertise?
I would bet my proverbial house on the former. In a landslide.
Yes, Mr. Djokovic has had his moments when he has been too lax, such as when he did some partying with his fellow tennis players, and several contracted COVID-19.
But undoubtedly, he has learned from the experience, just as he has an uncanny ability to learn from his opponents on the court and defeat them.
You may think this is a silly recommendation, but in reality, it’s not. The appointing of a Novak Djokovic to a role such as that would have great symbolic significance, reminding us that the ultimate control over our bodies is most often our own. We can be masters of our physical fates, at least for a while, through our behaviors.
Our mental fates are intimately tied to that.
But yes, I readily admit that isn’t going to happen. Mr. Djokovic isn’t about to retire as a tennis player. He seems to have more Grand Slam championships in him.
How many exactly, only God knows.
