Nick Kyrgios reminds Australian fans that Novak Djokovic made donations to bushfire victims, asks them not to treat the Serb like "a villain"
Tennis' wild child Nick Kyrgios recently gave his thoughts on Novak Djokovic's situation in his No Boundaries podcast. The Australian called out the local public during the podcast, criticizing them for forgetting how Djokovic had made hefty donations to Australian bushfire victims in 2020.
Novak Djokovic’s visa was revoked after he failed to meet Australia’s vaccine travel requirements. The Serb was subsequently detained at the Park Hotel in Carlton and spent the weekend there until his court case to overturn his visa cancelation began earlier on Monday. If Djokovic loses the case, he will promptly be deported from Australia.
The local public is unanimously against Djokovic staying in the country and playing at the 2022 Australian Open later this month, considering he is unvaccinated. Against that background, Kyrgios came out in defense of the World No. 1 in his podcast with friends Alex Babanine and James Frawley.
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Although the Australian has not always seen eye to eye with Djokovic, he asserted that the 20-time Major winner did not deserve such treatment. Kyrgios backed up his statement by reminding his listeners about the Serb's charitable donations to bushfire victims in 2020.
"I'm not siding with him, the guy's a human and I just want him to be treated like one. We wouldn't expect a 20-time Grand Slam champion to be treated like this, no we wouldn't," Nick Kyrgios said. "He's done a lot, when we had the bushfires, he was supporting us. When we needed help, he came and helped us. We're treating him like he's never done anything, he's a villain, which he's actually not."
Kyrgios also noted that Djokovic's decision to remain unvaccinated shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.
"He's definitely one of the athletes who has chosen the side of freedom, and not [keen on] the vaccine mandate... People that know Novak in his career know he tends to tilt towards that side, natural healing, his diet is vegan. I think he made his stand pretty early," the Australian said.
"As a fellow athlete, we all know how much pressure Novak Djokovic carries" - Nick Kyrgios
During the interaction, Kyrgios offered his sympathies to Novak Djokovic as he disagreed with the treatment meted out to the World No. 1 by both fans and the media.
"As a fellow athlete, we all know how much pressure Novak Djokovic carries, I can't even imagine how his life is," Kyrgios said. "I feel for him at the moment, there's so much going on that we don't know... He's a human at the end of the day, everything he's dealing with - the memes and the headlines - I kinda feel sad for him. I don't think this is the right way to go about it."
Kyrgios emphasized that Djokovic was a "special athlete" and has done so much for the sport. He also claimed the Serb needs to be "protected" by the tennis community.
"I honestly feel like, we were told at the start that there were gonna be consequences. I feel now, like, what he's done for our sport, he's won the Australian Open more than anyone else, he's a very special athlete," Kyrgios said.
"I feel like one thing that pisses me off is that we actually need to protect these athletes. What he's going through is quite serious, the media is so quick to jump on him. We should be protecting him more, rather than make fun of him." Kyrgios added.
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