Defiance, not obedience, is the American’s answer to overbearing authority.
– Ayn Rand

There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.
– Walt Whitman

With his US Open victory this past weekend, Novak Djokovic won his 24th Major tournament, the most in history.  The win launched him beyond the stratosphere of tennis greatness and into sports immortality with the likes of Jordan, Ali and Brady.  This is especially impressive when one considers he was banned from several tournaments over the past two years due to his lack of vaccination against Covid-19. 

Djokovic has said he has no regrets about his decision and has classfully expressed gratitude to be able to compete again.  A less humble athlete would point out that the illogical travel bans, the ones that prevented his tournament participation, likely cost him championships. He might go on to further point out the glaring hypocrisy that millions of unvaccinated illegal immigrants have swarmed across our border in recent years and perhaps he too would have been allowed entry into the country if only he had the potential to vote Democrat one day. 

Djokovic and millions of others faced unjust and baseless vaccine status discrimination, but instead of caving to the jab mob, he put aside almost certain fortune and glory to stay true to his principles.  As a world-class athlete and family man, Djokovic describes himself as meticulously conscious of what he puts in his body. His belief in responsible bodily autonomy and personal freedom meant no pressure from the hateful media was going to make him kneel to their narrative. Neither would any extortion from petty tyrants in the US and Australia compel him to take an experimental medicine he knew he didn’t need after having dealt with Covid twice already.

We now know that the vaccines did not work as promised, and there have been thousands of documented cases of harmful and deadly side effects.  But at the time, Djokovic faced spiteful hate and ridicule for his nonconforming behavior and audacity to think for himself. Djokovic hasn’t spoken much on the matter, but if you were watching on Sunday, his tearful embrace of his children after the final match spoke volumes.

Despite keeping his composure through countless tournament wins, there was no concealing his emotion this time. As Djokovic held his daughter and cried, he was victorious not just over his competition, but over a major test of his integrity. In the past two years, he never faltered in holding his family as his highest priority. He set an example for his children through his courage in not sacrificing his principles just to make things easy on himself. Further, he honored his duty to his family by refusing to risk his health unnecessarily just to have a chance at winning another trophy.

The champion’s return to glory was a symbolic victory for everyone who resisted nonsensical and unethical corporate and government edicts in order to do what was right for their own health. Covid vaccine tyranny was arguably the worst injustice perpetrated by our government in sixty years.  Some people lost their jobs.  Others lost far more. Cheers to those who stood up for individual liberty and actual science.  Novak Djokovic may be Serbian, but his defiant stance against abusive authority is something more Americans should emulate, particularly as this next round of Covid hysteria heats up.