Novak Djokovic: The ‘Iron Man’ device tennis star may wear at US Open – and what experts make of it
Novak Djokovic has raised eyebrows at this year’s Grand Slams by revealing a mysterious metal disc strapped to his chest.
The tennis star had the coin-like device taped between his pectorals at the French Open and Wimbledon, and could wear it again when the US Open starts on Monday.
His first opponent is Alexandre Muller, as the Serb aims for a record-extending 24th Grand Slam men’s singles title.
The world number two sees the chest gadget as key to his success – so what is it?
‘Biggest secret of my career’
Djokovic was asked about the disc after his second round French Open win over Marton Fucsovics in May, after it caught the attention of bemused commentators and viewers.
“When I was a kid I liked Iron Man a lot,” he said, noting its resemblance to part of the Marvel superhero’s suit.
“So I try to impersonate Iron Man.”
Iron Man’s similarly-shaped chest device powers his robotic outfit, and is designed to prevent bullet shrapnel in his body from reaching his heart.
For Djokovic, no such problems. Instead, he said it’s all about enhancing his performance on the court.
“My team delivers incredibly efficient nanotechnology to help me deliver my best,” he said.
“That’s probably the biggest secret of my career. If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Novak Djokovic wore the device at Wimbledon this year
What kind of ‘nanotechnology’ is this?
Following Djokovic’s comments, an Italian company called Tao Technologies said it was behind the device.
Described as a “human upgrade device”, the patented Taopatch is designed to improve health and wellbeing.
It claims the patch, which “uses two layers of nanocrystals that convert heat from your body into light”, sends therapeutic signals to the wearer’s nervous system to help their body achieve true balance.
Improved sleep, posture, balance, flexibility, recovery times, and focus, alongside reductions in stress, anxiety, and chronic pain, are among the benefits it purportedly provides.
The firm even claims the patch – which starts at £238 – has helped patients with multiple sclerosis.
Fabio Fontana, inventor of Taopatch and CEO of Tao Technologies, told Sky News he was inspired to invest in the product after becoming dependent on painkillers after a car accident.
“All the therapies I tried only provided temporary results,” he said.
“A doctor in Rome was the first to give me results with laser treatments. The benefits were significant in relieving the tension in the muscles of my neck and back, but its effectiveness lasted only a week.
“I wondered if it would be possible to create a kind of wearable laser to prolong the effect of the treatment.”
The nanocrystals, he said, simulate the effect of the laser treatments he received – and that the patch is simply “a different way of administering light therapy”.
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The Serb says the patch helps him perform on the court
Are the claimed benefits legitimate?
Tao says its patch is an approved medical device, according to EU regulations, however is yet to be approved by America’s drugs regulator.
The firm cites studies into its effectiveness on its website. One Italian study in 2021 concluded it improved balance, movement, and affected limbs of multiple sclerosis patients, while another that looked into its impact on athletic performance said it had improved participants’ grip and squat strength.
Mr Fontana also pointed to studies into the benefits of light therapy, and said the patch was available to all research institutions that wanted to conduct clinical trials.
But Tao’s claims have failed to move some experts.
In an article for Science-Based Medicine, Dr Harriet Hall said the company’s explanation “is not credible”.
Dr Brandon Beaber, a neurologist, has said studies may suggest a “little bit of benefit” anecdotally, but they remained unproven so far as multiple sclerosis treatment.
And Professor Edzard Ernst, of the University of Exeter, told Sky News none of the company’s claims seemed “supported by sound evidence”.
“The notion that it generates any benefit is bogus,” he said.
“The principles put forward fly in the face of science.”
Prof Ernst said any benefit gained by Djokovic would “entirely depend on a placebo response”.
Djokovic during the Wimbledon men’s singles final
Given Djokovic has not been banned from using the patch, tennis authorities also appear unconvinced it provides tangible advantages.
The ATP Tour and International Tennis Federation have not commented on its use – and you could be forgiven for having doubts given Djokovic’s previous health positions.
The 36-year-old famously refused to take a COVID vaccine, and missed several tournaments as a result due to international travel restrictions.
He’s also previously suggested he believes some people have telepathic powers, gave up gluten after claiming proximity to a piece of white bread made his body feel weaker, and said having an operation on his elbow in 2018 caused him to feel “like I had failed myself”.
As for the “biggest secret” of his career, it’s now out in the open.
Whether it makes any difference or not, he’ll no doubt be among the main contenders at the US Open between now and the tournament’s end on 10 September.
The 2023 US Open starts on Monday 28 August, live on Sky Sports.
World
‘Sixteen killed’ in strike on Gaza hospital as Israel says it hit ‘Hamas command centre below’
At least 16 people have been killed and 70 others were injured at a hospital in Gaza following an Israeli strike, according to the health ministry.
Nine missiles hit the European Hospital and its courtyard in the south of the Palestinian territory, officials said.
Israel said it had hit a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital in Khan Younis.
Hamas denies exploiting hospitals and civilian properties for military purposes.
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The scene after the European Hospital was partially damaged following Israeli airstrikes. Pic: Reuters
Earlier, a well-known Palestinian photojournalist died following a separate attack on the Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, said the ministry.
Hassan Aslih had been accused by Israel of working with Hamas and was recovering from an earlier airstrike.
Aslih, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, was said by the Israelis to have recorded and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack into Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Aslih was one of two patients who died in Tuesday’s strike on Nasser Hospital, said the health ministry. Several others were wounded.
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih. Pic: Reuters
Dozens of people were being treated on the third floor of the hospital building, where the missiles struck, Reuters said, quoting Ahmed Siyyam, a member of Gaza’s emergency services.
The Israeli military said it “eliminated significant Hamas terrorists” in Nasser Hospital, among them Aslih, who it said had “operated under the guise of a journalist”.
Footage showed heavy damage to one of the hospital buildings, including to medical equipment and beds inside.
At least 160 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
Gazan officials accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists. Israel denies this and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians.
Aslih, who headed the Alam24 news outlet and had previously worked with Western news outlets, was recovering after being wounded last month in a deadly strike on a tent in the Nasser Hospital compound.
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Meanwhile, President Trump has spoken on the phone to Edan Alexander after he was released by Hamas on Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire with Israel.
The 21-year-old was believed to be the last living American hostage in Gaza.
Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s response has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of the coastal territory. Gaza’s health ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
An aid blockade since March has left the population at critical risk of famine, according to the World Health Organisation, which warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”.
Donald Trump has said the US will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria and signed a $600bn (£450bn) deal with Saudi Arabia as he visited the nation as part of a tour of the Middle East.
The US president revealed the US plans to lift sanctions on Syria following talks with Saudi Arabia‘s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr Trump was speaking at the US-Saudi investment conference during a four-day trip to the region.
Analysis: US-Saudi relationship feels tighter than ever as Trump signs flurry of deals
The comments follow Air Force One being escorted by Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s as it approached the kingdom’s capital, with Mr Trump welcomed by the crown prince, Saudi’s de facto ruler, as he stepped off the plane.
President Trump said the relationship between the were nations were “stronger and more powerful than ever before”, adding it would “remain that way”.
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How Trump’s Saudi visit unfolded
‘Largest defence cooperation agreement’
Mr Trump and Prince Mohammed signed several agreements aimed at increasing cooperation between their governments, including a commitment to $600bn in new Saudi investment in the US – though Mr Trump said a trillion dollars (£750bn) would be even better.
The US also agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142bn (£107bn), which the White House called “the largest defence cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s provide an honorary escort for Air Force One. Pic: AP
In his speech, President Trump also urged Iran to take a “new and a much better path” and make a new nuclear deal with the US.
Speaking at the conference, Mr Trump said he wants to avoid a conflict with Iran but warned of “maximum pressure” if his olive branch was rejected.
Pic: AP
“As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound,” he said.
“If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero.”
He added: “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. But with that said, Iran can have a much brighter future, but we’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make.”
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Pic: Reuters
Normalising relations with Syria
Mr Trump said he would ease US sanctions on Syria and move to normalise relations with its new government ahead of a meeting with its new leader Ahmad al Sharaa on Wednesday.
The Syrian president was formerly an insurgent who led the overthrow of former leader Bashar al Assad last year.
Mr Trump said he wants to give the country “a chance at peace” and added: “There is a new government that will hopefully succeed. I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”
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The US leader also said he hoped Saudi Arabia would soon join the Abraham Accords and recognise Israel “in your own time”.
Saudi Arabia has argued its recognition of Israel would be tied to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the lines of Israel’s 1967 borders.
Mr Trump will travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the next three days.
In today’s Saudi Arabia, convention centres resemble palaces.
The King Abdul Aziz International Conference Centre was built in 1999 but inside it feels like Versailles.
Some might call it kitsch, but it’s a startling reflection of how far this country has come – the growth of a nation from desert bedouins to a vastly wealthy regional powerbroker in just one generation.
Trump latest: President signs huge arms deal with Saudi Arabia
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Trump signs deal with Saudi Arabia
At a bar overnight, over mocktails and a shisha, I listened to one young Saudi man tell me how his family had watched this transformation.
His father, now in his 60s, had lived the change – a child born in a desert tent, an upbringing in a dusty town, his 30s as a mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, his 40s in a deeply conservative Riyadh and now his 60s watching, wide-eyed, the change supercharged in recent years.
The last few years’ acceleration of change is best reflected in the social transformation. Women, unveiled, can now drive. Here, make no mistake, that’s a profound leap forward.
Through a ‘western’ lens, there’s a way to go – homosexuality is illegal here. That, and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are no longer openly discussed here.
Bluntly, political and economic expedience have moved world leaders and business leaders beyond all that.
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Trump visit is ‘about opulence’
The guest list of delegates at the convention centre for the Saudi-US Investment Forum reads like a who’s who of America’s best business brains.
Signing a flurry of different deals worth about $600bn (£451bn) of inward investment from Saudi to the US – which actually only represent intentions or ‘memorandums of understanding’ at this stage – the White House said: “The deals… represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
“From day one, President Trump‘s America First Trade and Investment Policy has put the American economy, the American worker, and our national security first.”
Pic: AP
That’s the answer when curious voters in faraway America wonder what this is all about.
With opulence and extravagance, this is about a two-way investment and opportunity.
There are defence deals – the largest defence sales agreement in history, at nearly $142bn (£106bn) – tech deals, and energy deals.
Underlying it all is the expectation of diplomatic cooperation, investment to further the geopolitical strategies for both countries on key global challenges.
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Trump says US will end sanctions on Syria
In the convention centre’s gold-clad corridors, outside the plenary hall, there are reminders of the history of this relationship.
There is a ‘gallery of memories’ – the American presidents with the Saudi kings – stretching back to the historic 1945 meeting between Franklin D Roosevelt and King Saud on board the USS Quincy. That laid the foundation for the relationship we now see.
Curiously, the only president missing is Barack Obama. Sources suggested to me that this was a ‘mistake’. A convenient one, maybe.
It’s no secret that the US-Saudi relationship was at its most strained during his presidency. Obama’s absence would give Trump a chuckle.
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From Monday: Why does Saudi Arabia love Trump?
Today, the relationship feels tighter than ever. There is a mutual respect between the president and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first foreign trip in his last presidency, and he’s done so again.
But there are differences this time. Both men are more powerful, more self-assured, and of course the region has changed.
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There are huge challenges like Gaza, but the two men see big opportunities too. A deal with Iran, a new Syria, and Gulf countries that are global players.
It’s money, money, money here in Riyadh. Will that translate to a better, more prosperous and peaceful world? That’s the question.
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