By winning his record 10th Australian Grand Slam, plant-based Novak Djokovic has put paid to the claims that vegans suffer from a protein deficiency, lack of strength and stamina because of their dietary choices.
The match took place in the Margaret Court Arena in the evening and lasted a gruelling 5 hours and 24 minutes which puts paid to the spurious claims that vegans are deficient in nutrition. Djokovic went fully plant-based in 2014 and signed on to produce the award-winning documentary The Game Changers (on Netflix) which showcases the health benefits of eating a plant-based diet as an athlete.
With this twenty-second grand slam, many are calling him the GOAT – Greatest of All Time. Tennis great Rod Laver said ” Congratulations on a 10th Australian Open title Novak Djokovic, 35 and at the peak of your powers. You’ve been as relentless as I’ve seen you these past two weeks. It was a privilege to watch such a superb final against your young rival Stefanos Tsitsipas. Bravo to you both!”
Another top player Australian who had to withdraw because of injury Nick Kyrgios “bad boy of tennis” also follows a vegan diet. Other tennis superstars who are vegan include the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, Martina Navratilova and Bernard Tomic.
Novak Djokovic is one of the most successful vegan tennis players of all time and fuels his body with a healthy plant-based diet. Djokovic switched to a vegan, gluten-free diet following health problems which saw him collapsing mid-match. “I do eat plant-based. I think that’s one of the reasons why I recover well. I don’t have allergies that I used to have any more.”
Djokovic has also said of his plant-based lifestyle “It’s more than a diet because there are ethical reasons as well. Being conscious of what is happening in the animal world and you know the slaughtering of animals and farming and everything. There is obviously a huge impact as well as climate change that people maybe don’t talk about as much. It’s more than a performance for me, it’s a lifestyle. Something that I’m really proud of and hope that the community grows,” he added. “I attribute a great deal of my professional success to my diet”.
By winning in the final, he also regained the number one spot in the world tennis rankings and with 22 grand slam wins, he has equalled Rafa Nadal’s tally of 22 and it doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon. He has the rest of the year to increase that number with the French Open and Wimbledon around the corner. Towards the end of the year, the American Open will be waiting for him.
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