Don’t blame Novak Djokovic for his reckless dad’s actions

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But Djokovic Sr’s conduct has created a diplomatic incident which could have serious ramifications. Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, condemned the pro-Putin protest as a disgrace. That verdict will certainly be heard loud and clear at Wimbledon, whose only justification for banning Russian and Belarusian players last summer was to remove any platform to glorify Putin’s regime. With the All England Club set to remove restrictions at this year’s tournament, the sight of Serbian ultras shouting at all our brothers in Donbass and Lugansk might be sobering.

In reality, a typical Wimbledon crowd is about as likely to unfurl pro-Russian slogans as they are to start chanting against the king. In terms of tone and atmosphere, the tournament could hardly be further from the Australian Open. Where Melbourne Park is often a hotbed of tension among Balkan expats, a place where 150 Serbs and Croats brawled in the beer garden in 2007, Wimbledon is so mindful of protocol and etiquette that even a shout untimely on the breaking point will result in a summary ejection.

If Wimbledon does anything, it will be to give Srdjan Djokovic the strictest warning about his conduct. After all, the place is in shape when it comes to cracking down on problematic dads. In 2000 he expelled Damir Dokic after he broke a journalist’s phone and raged: The Queen is for democracy, everything else in this country is fascist. And in 2013, he banned John Tomic after the notorious head-butting incident.

Djokovic’s father is not in the same league as this objectionable duo. Admittedly, he sometimes behaved rudely, notably when he urged Serbs to take to the streets to defend his son’s honor in the face of the vaccination saga, and when he organized a ridiculous press conference insisting: they crucified Jesus, now they crucify Novak. Even Djokovic’s staunchest defenders would have struggled to argue that his treatment had biblical parallels. And yet, as Srdjan contrives to make the life of the waiting champion unnecessarily difficult once again, perhaps a biblical lesson is instructive: namely, that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.

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