MY heart also goes to Novak Djokovic. He knew he had a losing cause. Still, he fought for it all the way to the ramparts of a court not totally under his control: the court of law. Had the battle been contested in a tennis court, he might have won it—by even a rout, maybe.
Unfortunately, he had been in an arena totally alien to him.
Still, he plodded on, unmindful of the snare that awaited him in the darkness of uncertainty.
And the inevitable happened.
After almost two weeks of fighting for his visa so that he could defend his Australian Open crown, he lost—as expected.
The stark lesson is crystal clear: If you can’t fight City Hall, what more with government?
For that was all there is to it.
Djokovic had taken on the Australian government. A stance as winless as Pacquiao’s bid for the presidency.
But amid all this, I have a confession to make. In a way, I share Djokovic’s battle cry: The cause worth fighting for is the lost cause.
For, only in fighting for a lost cause that you fight with all your might, with all your heart, with all your soul—as Djokovic so proudly did.
There is no other fight more satisfying than the unwinnable one—if only because you are fighting for something that you honestly believe is the right path.
If you come down to it, the Djokovic visa saga was shot full of ironies.
The Australian government gave Djokovic a visa, only to cancel it upon his arrival in Melbourne.
A judge overturned his government’s decision and restored Djokovic’s visa.
The government’s immigration minister stepped in, getting the nod of three Federal justices in revoking for the second time—and with finality—Djokovic’s visa, a verdict that even drew a three-year ban for Djokovic to enter Australia as provided for by law.
A known anti-vaccine foe, Djokovic had gotten a visa when officials of Tennis Australia, organizers of the Australian Open, provided the Australian government with a medical exemption for the world No. 1 from Serbia.
However, a medical exemption applies only to returning residents of Australia and not to visitors like Djokovic.
So, was Djokovic given false hopes of entering Australia by Australia’s tennis officials—only to be eventually kicked out by a government that originally granted him a visa?
And what if Djokovic had taken the jab as required by Australian law?
Apparently, Djokovic, in refusing to budge, favored pride over yielding to government powers.
In essence, the lost cause carried with it the loss of a 10th Australian Open crown, the vanishing of a record 21st Grand Slam and, yes, the evaporation of no less than $1 million in prize money.
Yes, he lost everything. Except his ego.
THAT’S IT I have this hunch that Mark Magsayo (23-0, 16 KOs) will defeat Gary Russell Jr. (33-1-0) on Sunday (January 23 Manila time) in New Jersey, USA, and become the newest Filipino world boxing champion.