Novak Djokovic insists his father was “misused” by pro-Russia fans he posed with for photos at Melbourne Park and admits the escalating saga has taken its toll during his bid for a 10th Australian Open crown.
Srdjan Djokovic decided to watch his son’s semi-final win over Tommy Paul off site to avoid becoming a disruption following the emergence of a video of him with Vladimir Putin fans on Wednesday night.
The group, including a man holding a Russian flag with president Putin’s face on it, had gathered on stairs outside the grand slam complex after Djokovic’s quarter-final win over Andrey Rublev.
Russian flags, the Russian Eagle banner, Belarusian flags, and items of clothing with the Z symbol are prohibited items at Melbourne Park amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, had called for Srdjan to be banned from the Open, but the world No.5 launched a fierce defence of his father, stressing his family was anti-war.
“It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened has escalated to such a high level,” Djokovic said, following Friday’s 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over Paul.
(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
“There was, I would say, a lot of conversations with tournament director, with media and everyone else.
“It has got to me, of course, as well. I was not aware of it until last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that.
“My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the ’90s.
“As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war.
The Serbian ace stressed his father had been fulfilling his post-match routine of thanking Djokovic fans for their support.
Novak Djokovic. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“I heard what he said in the video. He said, ‘cheers’. Unfortunately some of the media has interpreted that in a really wrong way,” Djokovic said.
“I’m sorry that that has escalated so much.
“But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that.
“My father was passing through. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. That’s it. He moved on.
“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. It’s not something that I want or need. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”
Djokovic was irritated when pressed on his father’s actions.
“There was no intention … he was misused in this situation by this group of people,” he said.
“I can’t be angry with him or upset because I can say it was not his fault. He went out to celebrate with my fans.
“After that, he felt bad and he knew how that’s going to reflect on me, the whole media pressure and everything that has happened in the last 24, 48 hours.”
Djokovic was unsure whether his father would be courtside for Sunday’s final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. “Let’s see,” Djokovic said. “I hope to have him. I hope he’s going to be feeling okay to be in the courts because I would like to have him there for the finals.”
All four tennis grand slams will make it a priority to safeguard the Davis Cup men’s team tournament.
The governing body of the sport’s most prestigious events made the promise on Friday, two weeks after the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) partnership with investment group Kosmos ended.
The ITF said earlier this month that its partnership with former Barcelona soccer player Gerard Pique’s Kosmos was ending five years into a 25-year, $US3 billion ($A4.2 billion) agreement.
That deal was unveiled in 2018 amid much fanfare over promises to deliver “long-term benefits” for fans and all stakeholders of the game.
The ITF, the sport’s governing body, added it had financial contingencies in place and would operate the 2023 Davis Cup qualifiers and finals as scheduled, with the finals week again taking place in Malaga, Spain, in November.
“Protecting the heritage of the sport and safeguarding major teams competitions such as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup is a priority for the global tennis community and will appropriately get the grand slams’ full attention,” the Grand Slam Board said in a statement on Friday.
The board added the four tournaments were united in their support for the Davis Cup, “recognising its historical significance and important role in growing engagement in our sport around the world.”
“We believe there is an opportunity to engage in further discussions with the ITF and ATP regarding the future of the Davis Cup competition with the ambition of seeing it restored to a premier event with an optimal format and place in the calendar that benefits players, fans and the sport overall.”
The ITF welcomed the statement and said it was looking forward to “leading further positive conversations” with the Grand Slam Board and the ATP in the build-up to this year’s Davis Cup.
The agreement with Kosmos had led to the revamp of the men’s team competition, which was founded in 1900.
The usual home-and-away ties played over a few weekends during the course of the year were scrapped.
That format was replaced in 2019 with just one home-and-away round of ties that was followed by 18 teams competing in one city for a week-long climax to the season.
After the 2020 edition was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 finale was held across 11 days in three cities — Madrid, Turin and Innsbruck.
The format was tweaked again last year, when teams competed in a group stage in September, with the top eight, including eventual runners-up Australia, reaching the finals.
Now that she’s conquered her rollercoaster anxieties, Elena Rybakina craves another ride to grand slam glory.
Rybakina enters Saturday night’s Australian Open final against Aryna Sabalenka feeling vastly more relaxed than she did before last year’s Wimbledon title match.
Chiefly because she reigned at the All England Club after enduring a nerve-wracking fortnight before breaking through for her maiden major.
“Everything was new at Wimbledon. Now I more or less understand what to expect,” the Russian-born Kazakh said.
Seven months after succeeding Ash Barty as Wimbledon champion, the 23-year-old is one win away from also following the retired Australian titleholder in getting her name etched on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at Melbourne Park.
Rybakina’s coach is banking on his charge’s experience of having already contested – and won – a grand slam title as being a “big factor” that gives her an edge against first-time major finalist Sabalenka.
“Once you go through the rollercoaster ride once, you know what to expect, more or less, emotionally,” Stefano Vukov said. “For the team and for the player, definitely.”
Vukov says Rybakina has also improved physically and tactically since her Wimbledon triumph.
“We had a really, really good pre-season,” he said.
“So I was expecting for her to start doing well. Obviously you never know if you’re going to go this far, but, yeah, preparation was key.”
Rybakina’s mentor can’t really split his player and Sabalenka, believing serving will likely be the key.
“Aryna is extremely powerful player, great forehand. Can have a great serving day. Can have a bad serving day, something we will try to capitalise on,” Vukov said.
“Elena is a good rhythm player, so she can feed off the pace of Aryna also. I think on the backhand side we are a little bit stronger.
“But as a match-up, I mean, it’s going to be a lot of mistakes, a lot of winners. I’m sure about that, from both sides, because there is going to be a lot of pressure.
“I think who serves well goes through. That’s my feeling.”
Two Australians are also chasing a title on Saturday night, with wildcards Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata playing Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Poland’s Jan Zielinski in a most improbable Australian Open men’s doubles final.
Kubler and Hijikata teamed up for the first time at the Open and have taken out the No.1 and No.8 seeds in their past two matches, dropping only four games on each occasion.
No all-Australian pairing since the legendary Woodies – Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde – had won the Open men’s doubles in a quarter of a century until last year.
Now Kubler and Hijikata are looking to repeat the wildcard heroics of the Special Ks – Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis – from 2022.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have picked it at the start of the week,” Hijikata said.
“I’m pumped.”
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