(LifeSiteNews) – Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic defended the freedom to choose against COVID-19 inoculation in a BBC interview Tuesday, saying that he has “always supported the freedom to choose what to put into your body.”
“For me that is essential, it’s really the principle of understanding what is right and what is wrong for you,” the sportsman stated, adding that “based on all the information that I got, I decided not to take the vaccine.”
The world number one recognized that his decision to forego the jab, for whatever reason, would bring opposition and difficulties in progressing his career, but said he was not deterred by this.
“I understand the consequences of my decision,” he said, noting that one of those consequences “was not going to Australia.”
The Serbian national said he “was prepared not to go” to the Australian Open, adding that he will likely face exclusion from many other major tournaments, to the detriment of his career record. “That is the price I am willing to pay.”
Asked if he is willing to give up his chance to hold the most coveted records in tennis history and become the greatest player “statistically” to have played the game professionally, Djokovic simply responded: “Yes.”
“The principles of decision-making on my own body are more important than any title,” he defended.
Djokovic was ejected from Australia last month after the Australian Minster for Immigration Alex Hawke deigned that the tennis ace’s “ongoing presence in Australia may lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment generated in the Australian community, potentially leading to an increase in civil unrest of the kind previously experienced in Australia with rallies and protests which may themselves be a source of community transmission.”