On a select Monday evening, Novak Djokovic received a warm welcome at the star-studded Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Paris however, his inclusion didn’t go well with the scores of football fans and the whole endeavor was met with a lot of backlash online.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion is making the most of his time in Paris as he prepares to return to action at the final Masters 1000 of the season after taking a month off from the tennis. Djokovic has had a very busy off-court break as he alongside popstar Rita Ora watched the Ruby World Cup Final between South Africa and New Zealand earlier on Saturday.
Invited by France Football Magazine, Djokovic was at the prestigious award ceremony to hand the Spanish star Aitana Bonmati her first Ballon d’Or Féminin.
“It’s nice to take the opportunity, when you have a tournament in the city where you have some big sporting events like the World Cup Finals of rugby or the Ballon d’Or, you have to take the chance and I am enjoying myself,” said Djokovic.
“Football is by far the most popular sport in the world. I grew up watching football, playing football and my father was a professional for a time. So I am excited to be here.”
Sports Journalist Lavender Baj’s Tweet
While Djokovic’s appearance received a warm reception by most in the venue, the online audiences including some journalists opted to have a different and in some cases hostile opinion.
Sports Journalist Lavender Baj took to X/Twitter to invoke the gender debate as she protested why the Serbian was invited to decorate a female player of the highest order.
“We are living in the year of women’s football and we’re holding the Ballon d’Or in their international window and having … Novak Djokovic present the award. The disrespect,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“You could’ve stumbled out of a bar at 2am and found someone more worthy of presenting it.”
Online Backlash by Fans
The provocative tweet was all that was required to spark a debate among the Aussie twitter as it did the trick and the social media users started describing Djokovic’s appearance as disrespectful.
There is a history between the World No. 1 and Australians since his deportation from Australian shores during Covid and the reactions from the public showed that the animosity towards the 36-year-old is still lingering to the date.
Other pointed out Djokovic’s controversial 2016 remarks about the equal pay activism in women’s tennis/WTA.
“Obviously it’s a very delicate situation. Women deserve respect and admiration for what they are doing,” said Djokovic at the time.
“You know, equal prize money was the main subject of the tennis world in the last seven, eight years,” Djokovic said.
“I have been through that process as well so I understand how much power and energy WTA and all the advocates for equal prize money have invested in order to reach that.
“I applaud them for that, I honestly do. They fought for what they deserve and they got it.
“On the other hand, I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. I think that’s one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more.
“Women should fight for what they think they deserve and we should fight for what we think we deserve.”
Djokovic late clarified his comments and has since become a vocal proponent of equal prize money in WTA and Grand Slams.
However, his participation created stir for various reasons and the whole moment to read out the winner on women’s side became tainted with a controversy. Here is what different commentators on social media have to say about the Djokovic’s appearance.
One user wrote: “I don’t understand why Djokovic presented this. He’s not even a feminist or an ally of women’s sports! He has advocated against equal pay in tennis!!!”
A second added: “Presented by women’s football legend Novak Djokovic.”
A third one stressed: ‘Ballon d’Or 2023 – No awards for: Women’s U21 player, Women’s Gerd Muller, Women’s Lev Yashin. The Women’s award was presented by Novak Djokovic, a player who made it all about him rather than Aitana Bonmati (weeping emoji).
Another wrote: ‘You really let her down with that, like where was the build up to women’s football? Djokovic didn’t mention women’s football once before he presented the award and you forget (sic) to even give it to her at first’.
Arsenal Star Jen Beattie and Sports Writer Tim Stillman
Arsenal Star Jen Beattie took to twitter, slamming the organizers at the awards and urged them to “do better.”
“Beyond disappointing that the Ballon d’Or was held during a women’s international break making it pretty impossible for most of the nominees to even attend. Do better!”
Sports Writer Tim Stillman also showed her disapproval of the Djokovic’s passing by participation at the event.
“Nothing says ‘celebrate the achievement of female athletes’ like inviting a male athlete who advocated against equal pay to talk about himself and the completely different sport he plays,” she wrote on X.
To Sum up, both FIFA and Djokovic were grilled because Aitana Bonmati was the solo female honouree in Paris, the ceremony clashed with women’s international break and the celebrated Spanish midfielder received her award (Ballon d’Or Féminin) from a tennis dude on a glitziest night of football.