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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke January 13, 2022

No, this isn’t a real video of Nadal and Federer laughing at Djokovic

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  • This video is a joke. 
 

Tennis star Novak Djokovic was stuck at an airport in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 5 after it became clear that his team had applied for a visa that didn’t allow medical exemptions like the COVID-19 vaccination exemption he had obtained to play at the Australian Open. 

A video circulating on social media appears to show two other tennis stars, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, laughing at the Serb’s expense. 

"Thought he could outwit everyone with phony medical exemption," reads one of the English subtitles rolling at the bottom of the clip as the men laugh. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

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Some people seem to believe that their comments are real, but the clip is a joke that apparently originated as a satirical story on a German site

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@politifact No, this isn’t a real video of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer laughing at Novak Djokovic. #djokovic #covidvaccine #learnontiktok ♬ Swear By It - Clutch
 

The video itself is authentic and shows Federer and Nadal more than a decade ago. Credit Suisse posted it to YouTube in September 2010, writing that "they had loads of fun" shooting a video promoting a tennis match that would raise money for charity. 

Unlike in the spoof now being posted to social media, the men can be heard speaking in English and cracking up over their lines for the promo. 

We rate claims that the video shows them laughing about Djokovic False.

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No, this isn’t a real video of Nadal and Federer laughing at Djokovic

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