At the beginning of August, what had been speculated for some time received official confirmation – the ATP tournament is moving from Belgrade to Athens.
Almost three weeks later, in New York, Novak Đoković spoke emotionally with Serbian media about it, as well as about the overall situation in society.
“All I can say is that we did not want to move the tournament, that’s all I can say. Unfortunately, it is what it is…”, Novak began and added a little later:
“Will the tournament return to Serbia, I hope it will. From our side, there is always that wish and tendency, my brother Đorđe – who runs the tournament – was simply put in a situation where the tournament had to be moved. I hope that a slightly better time will come in the coming years, so that the tournament will return, maybe even in a higher category, you never know. The Belgrade audience loves and follows tennis, Serbia has become a country of tennis in the last twenty years, with all our successes.”
Nole could not fail to touch on what has been happening on the streets of Serbia in recent days and weeks.
“The situation in the country in general is such that people care the least about sports… A lot is happening, there is a great transition of the people and the state in general… Without getting into politics, because I have already talked about it enough, I hope that the passions will calm down a bit. It has all escalated a lot, we are literally on the verge of civil war. I hope that the situation will calm down a bit, but there is no sign of that.”
Đoković also thanked the new hosts, who have not had an ATP tournament since 1994.
“We are looking forward to coming to Athens (November 2-8), where they really welcomed us very friendly. They are very happy to have the opportunity to have a tournament for the first time since the nineties. It is a big deal for Greece, which is a bigger country than Serbia, but we are similar in the context of mentality. They love basketball, they love sports, in tennis they now have Tsitsipas and Sakkari, who have been at a top level for years, and tennis is becoming more and more popular. We are looking forward to it because the tournament will be held in the OAKA arena, which is big and beautiful. I follow basketball all the time, I hope the attendance will be great.”
Novak played his last official match at Wimbledon, and in the first round of the US Open he will meet Lerner Tien, the 48th tennis player in the world, on Sunday into Monday at 1 a.m.
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Source: Sportklub, Photo: Printscreen Youtube