My MAGA Congresswoman Is Obsessed with Novak Djokovic—And Now It Makes Sense
Tennis star Novak Djokovic has a passionate right-wing fanbase that is essentially Trump's MAGA movement...except for tennis.
My member of Congress recently blocked me on X over a comment I posted criticizing her take on Serbian tennis star (and anti-vaxxer) Novak Djokovic. Yeah, 2024 is coming in hot.
I normally don’t follow Republican members of Congress on social media. X feeds them to me regardless, so what’s the point, right?
But seeing as Claudia Tenney is my Rep in New York’s 24th district, and is someone I will continue to work to try to defeat each cycle, I thought it would be smart to follow her. And it didn’t take long to regret that decision.
Tenney is a truly toxic member of Congress. Her X feed is full of all sorts of MAGA red meat and bad faith rhetoric including fear-mongering about asylum-seekers, blind praise of Trump, Hunter Biden fever dreams, and endless reposts of Elon Musk. Pretty standard MAGA fare.
But there was something else blanketing Tenney’s feed that I didn’t quite expect: quite a bit of praise for and amplification of news about Djokovic.
In fact, I’ve since discovered there’s a whole right-wing eco-system devoted to supporting the reigning Australian Open champion, who became a right-wing hero when he defied Australia’s Covid vaccine travel mandate ahead of the 2022 Australian Open and was subsequently deported from the country.
It was illuminating how this nexus between right-wing pro-Trump activism and Novak Djokovic fans is really just a microcosm of Trump’s us vs. them grievance-driven tribal politics, only translated into the world of tennis.
It’s all there: the grievance porn, the sense that they are fighting against some imagined evil establishment, treating Djokovic like a cult hero, and, of course, the suppression of dissent.
In this essay, I’ll take you on a tour of this little MAGA underworld and explore what it can tell us about the modern conservative movement at a time when they are desperately clinging to any sign of relevance in a culture that is largely leaving them behind.
Djokovic As MAGA Hero
One of the most pronounced aspects of this X subculture, one right out of the MAGA playbook, is the profound grievance they feel on behalf of Djokovic, the sense that he isn’t getting his due respect as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of men’s tennis. And just as with Trump, they feel the need to fight on his behalf against this perceived (but largely illusory, or at least benign) “establishment” trying to keep Djokovic down.
The source of their passionate political alignment with Djokovic, of course, stems from the incident two years ago when the tennis star flew to Australia unvaccinated for Covid, in defiance of Australia’s vax mandate. While Djokovic had secured a travel exemption from the state of Victoria that allowed him to travel there, he was promptly detained by federal authorities and after losing an appeal, deported and banned from returning to the country for three years.
And a MAGA hero was born.
Just days after Djokovic was deported from Australia back in 2022, political scientist Norman Ornstein noted the heart of the alignment between Trump’s and Djokovic’s passionate bases of support:
Ding ding ding.
Who Is The GOAT?
As the start of the 2024 Australian Open approaches this coming Sunday, one source of this right-wing MAGA victimhood narrative has been fans’ insistence that Djokovic is the unambiguous GOAT of men’s tennis.
It’s true that since his 2022 drama, Djokovic had his travel ban overturned and was allowed to play in the 2023 Australian Open, which he won, and now is back to defend his title.
And also during the past couple of years, Djokovic has gone from being tied with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal with 20 Grand Slam singles titles apiece to leading the pack now with 24, causing many, particularly his MAGA fans, to insist that Djokovic is the GOAT.
But does the most Grand Slam singles titles alone a GOAT make? MAGA sure thinks so.
Rafa Nadal on the other hand, who is one of Djokovic’s chief rivals for that title and currently holds 22 Grand Slam titles, weighed in during a recent interview with El Pais, and his answer inspired some serious MAGA hate.
"Since I have a memory of tennis, (Federer) is the player who has impressed me the most, the one who has entertained me the most, the one who has moved me the most.
“Watching Federer play has moved me more than Djokovic, and in the end, tennis is about emotion. It's the emotion that draws you to it.
"We have all reinvented ourselves (and) that's why there has been this intense rivalry. We always surprised each other. Djokovic, as well, but with a difference compared to the two of us. He hasn't needed to evolve (his style) as much as we have. He hasn't suffered as many injuries. The only thing that has demanded him to improve his game has been his rivals, not physical issues. That's a difference."
The backlash came quick.
One X user, @pavyg, whose profile is about as MAGA as you can get, self-identifying as “Exposing corruption, propaganda and bias in Tennis. Anti Establishment/Woke,” went hard against Nadal defending Djokovic’s honor:
As did others:
Congresswoman Tenney, who apparently doesn’t have better things to do, even joined the fray:
Not only did it strike me as bizarre that a member of Congress was weighing in on this not at all pressing issue, but it took me about two minutes to ascertain the true nature behind her advocacy for Djokovic.
And so I responded:
To which Tenney gave me an:
LOL
And a block.
Another classic MAGA move: suppress any dissenting voices, even as my member of Congress.
Now, to be fair, Tenney is not new to #TeamDjokovic. When he was denied entry into the U.S. ahead of the U.S. Open in 2022 for his refusal to get vaccinated, Tenney fought unsuccessfully to get him a waiver.
But regardless of the authenticity of Tenney’s support for Djokovic, I stand by my assessment: If Djokovic had not stood up to the Covid travel restrictions, Tenney would not be championing him in this way. It’s not about tennis or even his skills on the court, it’s about what he represents.
Of course, there’s a reason Novak’s nickname back home is “Novax,” and his disturbing Serbian nationalism and tendency toward conspiracism are well known, so it’s hard to imagine him ever running afoul of MAGA. But in the end, just like Trump, for the American MAGA movement, it’s clear that he’s simply an avatar of conservative anti-left rage.
Cue The MAGA Grievance
In the meantime, as the start of the 2024 Australian Open approaches, it’s been quite entertaining to see the pearl-clutching turn up to eleven this week, with plenty for his right-wing base to be falsely aggrieved about.
Exhibit #1: Complaints of Djokovic missing from the Australian Open social media banners.
You see, the 2024 Australian Open banners on X and Facebook exclusively feature American phenom Coco Gauff, who is the reigning U.S. Open champ and Australian Open #4 female seed. Missing, much to Djokovic fans’ dismay: the reigning Australian Open champion and 2024 #1 male seed himself.
And the MAGA victimhood brigade did not disappoint.
These aren’t just tennis fans, these are warriors for Djokovic, even referring to themselves as an “army” ready to “win the war.”
Tennis365 even posted an article titled Novak Djokovic Fans In Meltdown Over Disrespect After Australian Open Snub that explained why Gauff would be featured so prominently to the omission of other champions:
It was announced last month that Tennis Australia had signed an agreement to make New Balance the Official Performance Apparel and Footwear provider of the Australian Open and United Cup…
Gauff, who had a terrific 2023 season and began 2024 by defending her Auckland title, is the biggest tennis star who sports New Balance clothing and footwear.
But for Djokovic fans, none of that matters. The narrative of grievance, much like with Trump’s base, hits at a visceral level where facts become irrelevant. For them, the failure of the Australian Open to feature Djokovic on their social media banners is a slap in the face to the number one player in the world, a sign of retaliation for the events of 2022 on the part of the Australian Open organization.
The difference between Trump and Djokovic is that Trump feeds his base the seeds of this grievance every day, which is what primes them to seek it out in defense of their cultural (and cult) hero Djokovic. Their tribal us vs. them instincts have been triggered.
But just as with so much MAGA grievance, it’s quite easy to rebut all that underpins it. Their complaints aren’t based in logic or fact, but rather in pure emotional kneejerk instinct. So it doesn’t take much digging to find plenty of evidence of the Australian Open’s utter adoration for Djokovic. They even refer to him as the “🐐” and “the king.”
Which leads us to Exhibit #2, which is not only an airing of grievance in defense of their hero, but this time with another MAGA specialty—some easily disproven disinformation—thrown in for good measure.
As happens so often with Trump’s GOP fans, their instinctual grievance leads them to get it wrong. A lot. But for them, it feels true, and that’s what matters.
Here’s Claudia Tenney herself amplifying the Australian Open’s promotional video that she claims didn’t feature “The GOAT” Djokovic!
Except, of course, the video DOES feature Djokovic. Which people were happy to inform Tenney of:
Trump’s MAGA minions are so blinded by their preconceived notions that the media and political institutions are out to get Trump, and by extension, Djokovic, they often end up getting it just blatantly wrong, as Tenney does here.
Add to that another MAGA move: even after she is informed of the error, Tenney keeps the post up. Classic.
The replies ripping Tenney for her pettiness are so on point.
Indeed.
MAGA Desperately Clinging To Cultural Relevance
What struck me as notable about the right’s passionate alignment with Djokovic is the desperate desire of so many MAGA fans to create this narrative of victimhood around Djokovic out of whole cloth, where none actually exists.
Literally, no one is keeping Djokovic down. He’s doing just fine. He’s the number one player in the world, number one seed in Australia, the favorite to win his 11th title (and 25th Grand Slam overall.) And no one is trying to prevent him from achieving this (except whoever ends up against him in the finals, of course.)
But despite this, they are still determined to invent villains aligned against Djokovic that they can rise up and fight against. Because, let’s face it: it’s remarkably rare that they have an unambiguous winner in culture to fight for.
I mean, just look at who else they’ve been stuck with.
Take New Year’s Eve. While Green Day ripped on the “MAGA agenda” on ABC in front of 30 million viewers during an updated version of the iconic anti-Bush anthem American Idiot, Donald Trump hosted Vanilla Ice and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle at Mar-a-Lago.
Leading a sitting GOP Congressman to tweet, without any irony:
As Billy Baldwin bluntly put it:
And remember right-wingers’ attempt to insist that, really, culture is with them, that if you “go woke” you “go broke”?
To prove that point they decided the huge box office hit Super Mario Brothers Movie was actually “anti-woke” due to its casting, even though it featured a kick-ass independent Princess Peach. Weird flex.
Funny, we didn’t hear too much about “Go woke, go broke” in 2023, the year dominated by “woke” powerhouses Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Barbie.
Now, to be fair, the right did have some success with their Bud Light boycott, but even with that fight, their top-tier face of that campaign was Kid Rock.
While on the other side, Garth Brooks famously refused to ban Bud Light from his Nashville bar, saying:
“I want it to be a place you feel safe in…and yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you come into this house, love one another, there are plemty of other places on Lower Broadway to go.”
I know who I’d rather have representing me in that fight.
The plain truth is that American conservatives are painfully aware they are out of touch with the culture and falling farther behind every day. Whether it’s social issues such as abortion rights, LGBTQ+ inclusion or racial diversity, or the secularization of America as people leave churches in droves, or most of the cultural touchstones in the arts and even sports, they are simply on the wrong side of history and the culture.
So, by all means, MAGA, take Djokovic. You can have him.
The beauty of Rafa is that he has a humility that is the anthisis of America's focus of greatness.
I enjoy wearing this in front of MAGAs: t.co/qamICK599Z