Australian Open: Djokovic, with his head in the final, faced the controversy with his father

Novak Djokovic easily beat American Tommy Paul, achieved a career-high 27 match win streak at the Australian Opensurpassing Andre Agassi’s 26 between 2000 and 2004, e will face Stefanos Tsitsipas to go in search of his tenth title in Melbourne and No. 22 in Grand Slam tournaments, which would equal Rafa Nadal’s highest ranking.

He is, without a doubt, the best player in the history of the Australian tournament and one of the great legends of tennis. However, sometimes, the focus deviates from the strictly sporting one. Last year it was the conflict of his expulsion for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and now it is the image of his father, Srdjan, together with some fans with pro-Russian symbols that are in the spotlight .

At the press conference after qualifying for a new Australian Open final, Nole explained that his father’s attitude was misinterpreted, since no one in his family would support “any kind of violence or war.”

“My father, my entire family and I went through several wars during the 1990s. As he said in a statement, we are against war and will never support any kind of violence or war. We know how devastating it can be for a family or for the people of a country,” said the winner of 92 ATP titles.

“I’m sorry the argument has escalated so much, but I hope people understand that there is absolutely no intention of supporting any war-related initiative. In the video it says “health”. Unfortunately, some media misinterpreted it.”He added.

“My dad was going to the main square at the Australian Open to see my fans after every match to be with them, thank them for their support and take pictures. There were many Serbian flags and he thought about taking a picture with a Serbian person. That’s all” he added on the episode that overshadowed his quarterfinal win over Russia’s Andrey Rublev.

Ukraine responds

Despite Srdjan Djokovic explained what happened and stated that “My family has experienced the horror of war and we only want peace.” in the same way that the same tennis player has shown himself on more than one occasion against the war that hasn’t stopped yet, Ukraine has asked Australian Open organizers to ban Nole’s father.

“His accreditation must be withdrawn. It is up to Novak and his team to address this issue and resolve it. He must apologize for what happened and condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the ambassador told AFP Vasyl Myroshnychenko.

​Faced with this situation, Srdjan decided not to be present at the Rod Laver Arena for the semifinal match that pitted his son against the American Paul. “I’m here (in Australia) just to support. I didn’t intend to cause such a disturbance so I decided to watch the match from home,” he said in a statement.

This Sunday, in a new Grand Slam final against Stefanos Tsitsipas (they had already met at Roland Garros 2021), the Serbian and the Greek will compete, not only for the first major title of the season, but also for the world number 1. Big party coming up: Will Novak’s father reappear to encourage his son?