Novak Djokovic Chose His Body Over the Grand Slam Record
In January 2022, Novak Djokovic arrived in Australia tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at 20 Grand Slam titles, then was deported for refusing the COVID vaccine, forfeiting his shot at a tenth Australian Open. Host Ben Beeri traces how the Serbian tennis star also missed the 2022 US Open due to US entry restrictions on unvaccinated travelers, watched Nadal pull two Slams ahead, and still returned to Melbourne in 2023 to win the Australian Open in a hostile crowd, followed by the French Open and US Open to reach 24 majors by year's end. Beeri frames the decision as consistent with the meticulous dietary, conditioning, and recovery philosophy the player built around his 2011 rise to world number one, not as a political stance. The episode connects the story to broader conversations around Anthony Fauci, pandemic-era mandates, mental resilience in individual sports, and what it looks like to control your training, morals, and values when the rules around you don't feel fair.


