Djokovic on perception of himself: "People sometimes think I'm fake, that I do certain things because I want to be loved"

Novak Djokovic has been called many things throughout his career but he always tried to be genuine in everything that he does.

Djokovic has never been the most popular tennis player in the world, and it has had some effect on him. Despite being a tremendous player on the court, his reputation off the court took a couple of hits. One major one happened during the pandemic when he became the poster boy for the anti-vaccination cause.

He talked about how other perceive him in a talk with La Stampa in Turin:

"I know that people sometimes think I'm fake, that I do certain things because I want to be loved. It's not like that, I'm just trying to be genuine. It's something we're losing. It is not possible to please everyone but by now the politically correct forces us to give up expressing our ideas with respect, without hatred, but with freedom. Freedom of speech for me today is just an illusion."

Continuing on the same topic, Djokovic added:

"I had an extraordinary example of this year, with what happened to me around the vaccine issue. I expressed myself for the freedom to be able to dispose of one's body, and immediately I was accused of being a no-vax, which I am not. If you don't belong to a certain way of thinking, you quickly become the bad guy. That's no good."