Right now, tennis bad boy, notorious anti-vaxxer and all-round shitty person Novak Djokovic is winging his way from Melbourne Australia to Dubai after being deported for violating Australian immigration laws, lying about it, and then insisting that rules don’t apply to him.  He dragged immigration officials, tournament officials, the tennis world, and indeed the entire population of Australia through almost two weeks of drama just because he doesn’t want to get a simple safe and effective vaccination.

A three federal judge panel ruled on Sunday afternoon that Australia immigration officials were within their rights doing their damn job and enforcing the country’s immigration laws.  Even better, there was no court that would receive an inevitable appeal from Djokovic.  The decision was final. The decision was unanimous and, to add insult to justice, the panel ordered Djoker to pay all of the costs incurred by the government for this sorry chapter of his life that resulted from his own decisions and conduct.

After years of bad guys all over the world getting away with actual murder, from Rodrigo Duterte Wrecking to Philippine government to Vladimir Putin’s murderous rule over Russia, to TFG’s teflon life where he’s never been personally held to account for his entire corrupt existence, wins for good guys are few and far between.  Of the thousands of Deplorables who stormed the US Capitol only about 700 were charged with crimes and most of those are only petty charges.  Less than 20 are charged with serious crimes and only 11 charged with what all were guilty, sedition.  Bad guys get off scott free on a daily basis, especially willfully ignorant anti-vaxxers who are participating in mass illness and death simply because they’re assholes.

Because bad guys win almost all the time, it’s rare when one of them gets theirs, especially famous ones like Djoker.  Like other narcissists, he believes that simply because he’s really good at hitting a tennis ball he can inflict his warped existence on everyone around him with no consequences.  Australia proved him wrong, and that victory is especially sweet.

What’s infuriating, though?  This entire episode was easily avoidable by Djokovic doing the right thing and just getting vaccinated.  Just think of all the lives he could save, especially in his native Serbia where anti-vaxxers have caused the virus to surge again in a population that’s only 47% vaccinated.  That’s the real tragedy of Djokovic’s failure at being a decent human being.

Novac Djokovic is the latest in a long string of bad sports in the tennis world.  I must confess that the only real sport I follow, and indeed still play, is tennis.  It’s a great sport you can play well into…er…uh…maturity, and helps those of us who play stay in shape.  It’s also a brilliant sport to watch in person and even on television, though it is better in person.

All that said, like other professional sports, tennis has its bad guys.  Back in the 70s it was John McEnroe, who raised being an asshole on the court to a fine art form, but players like Jimmy Connors, who on occasion acted out; Ilie Nastase, nicknamed Nasty Nastase; Dennis Ralston in the 60s, and a few others were all close seconds.  There were fewer on the women’s side, but Serena Williams is famous for smashing racquets and screaming during the match to throw off her opponents when she’s behind.  Nick Kyrgios is also well known for being a jerk on the court.

Bad sportsmanship is one thing.  Being a shitty person is a whole other thing, and that’s the spot Djoker occupies.  He’s famous for smashing racquets, screaming at crowds who don’t worship him, and was booted from the US Open in 2020 after he hit a line judge in the throat with a ball he had slapped during one of his rages.  On top of all that, he’s a notorious anti-vaxxer.  At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Djoker held a private tournament in Serbia that turned into a super spreader event and where he himself contracted the virus.  It got so bad that the final match was cancelled.

Learning nothing from that disaster, Djoker has flouted public health rules in many countries; he did it again in Australia last week, but this time got caught by a functioning government not star struck by the world’s number one player.  First, he refused to get vaccinated, and then refused to disclose that fact to the public.  Then he lied on his immigration form saying that he had not traveled internationally in the last 2 weeks when, in fact, had traveled to Spain for an event the previous week.  Worse yet, he appeared in person for an interview the day after he had tested positive for COVID.  Appropriately, Australia cancelled his visa and ordered him to leave the country.  He refused, of course, and was then isolated in a quarantine hotel while his lawyers appealed the ruling.  The judge in the case restored his visa based on a narrow ruling that he was not given sufficient time to respond to the government’s decision.

What did Djoker do then?  He immediately started practicing for the tournament exposing who knows how many people to possible infection.  Wisely, the minister of immigration for Australia cancelled his visa again today, but rather than just getting on a plane and leaving, Djoker then immediately appealed the ruling again; another hearing is scheduled for Sunday.  It’s expected that he’ll lose this appeal.

Australia has some of the most strict COVID policies of any country in the world, and has had relatively low infections as a result.  Melbourne was especially strict, with almost 300 days of lockdown over the last 2 years.  Djoker’s flouting of Australia’s health policy and wanton self-interest has turned the Australian Open into a circus where everyone is talking about Djoker, and actual tennis has taken a back seat to his malignant narcissism.  In fact, he has become TFG of tennis with all the bad traits that label carries with it.  He couldn’t care less about other people; rules don’t apply to him; he ignores science and good public policy; he’s simply a shitty person.

Fingers crossed that he gets his on Sunday and is sent packing back to Serbia so he can fume and watch great players not him compete for the first Grand Slam win of the year.  I’ll be celebrating his deportation.