Forced intermittent of the show (three small matches in 2022 due to non-vaccination against Covid-19), Novak Djokovic returns this week to Monte-Carlo. Chased from Australia, banned from entering the United States, the world number 1 was eager to see the European season arrive on clay where the skies are now more lenient for those who do not want to go through the vaccine box.
But the case of the Serb continues to be talked about. Former world number 1 Marcelo Rios, who rarely speaks but is not known for lace, spoke in La Tercera about the Belgrader’s choice to stick to his guns.
“He’s a big idiot, he’s going to lose his career and he won’t be the best player in history because of a vaccine, loose “El Chino”. i was thinking the same thing (Editor’s note: on vaccination), but I started traveling and had to take it. Before, we might have thought that, but he’s going to screw everything up because he’s an idiot. I don’t know what the reason is, but if you’re playing to be the best in history and you’re going to screw up your career for a few shots, you must be the king of jerks. I think at first it was out of fear, but now he’s too arrogant…”
In Melbourne, Djokovic saw Nadal overtake him in the number of Grand Slams (21) and he does not yet know precisely what his summer will be like… “These last few months have been difficult mentally and emotionally, he explained on Sunday in the Principality, before his scheduled first round against Spaniard Davidovich Fokina. I will surely not be at my best for this start this week. I will test the engine and build my game. It will take a few games. »
Rios, he is not a stroke of brilliance. Two years ago, the former Australian Open finalist accused the ATP of having concealed “four times” doping cases involving Andre Agassi in the 1990s. “They caught Agassi four times for doping and covered it because it was Agassi, and tennis was going into the wall,” he said, already in La Tercera. They’re shit, gringos. »
In his autobiography published in 2009, the American, winner of eight Majors, revealed that he had been addicted to methamphetamine during part of his career and had tested positive for a hard drug in 1997. He also told how he had lied to the ATP to justify this control, thus avoiding the slightest sanction.