"Unfortunate misinterpretation, we are against the war" - Djokovic on his father's incident
ATPSaturday, 28 January 2023 at 07:30
Updated at Sunday, 12 January 2025 at 18:05
Novak Djokovic's family, particularly his father, was involved in a controversy on Wednesday night in Melbourne Park.
Srdjan Djokovic was taking pictures with some fans of the 21-time Grand Slam champion while they were holding a Russian flag. He addressed the situation since and missed his son's semi-final match, and after it, also Novak Djokovic was asked about the whole incident.
"It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened yesterday has escalated to such a high level. There were a lot of conversations with the tournament director, with the media and everyone else."
"It had got to me, of course, as well. I was not aware of it till last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that."
Speaking about the war, the Serbian made a strong statement, and it shouldn't be forgotten that he made attempts to help Ukraine in the past.
"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."
Djokovic tried to explain the situation more from his and his father's perspective, as he detailed what happened.
"My father was passing through. There were a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was taking a 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."
The experienced Serbian also spoke about how he makes sure to stay away from such headlines or news that may negatively affect him or his performance.
"I have a team of people around me, my family members who are staying with me in the same accommodation or spending an entire day with me. I have an agreement with them that they give me this kind of protection."
"I don’t want to hear things about what was written in this article or that news or that news. I want to keep my mind as sane or serene as possible in order to conserve the vital energy that I need for the court."
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