Novak Djokovic: ‘He was misused in this situation by…’

Novak Djokovic dominated his quarterfinal match, dropping only to Andrey Rublev to qualify for the Australian Open semifinals, where he will face the surprising Tommy Paul. Boris Becker, former coach of the Serbian and six-time Grand Slam winner, gave an interesting interview to Eurosport about the 35-year-old from Belgrade. Becker is convinced that Djokovic does well in a noisier and more emotional environment. “It’s a theatrical game on the court, where you want to entertain the spectators present. The louder and more emotional it is, the better it is for the performance of the players, and Djokovic, in particular, thrives on that,” Becker said. The German went on to talk about what Djokovic is showing at this Australian Open: “It doesn’t surprise me, but it impresses me time and time again that he is able to deliver his performance time and time again. He has been on the tennis circuit for quite a few years and has had some physical injuries: it’s impressive that he can always find the motivation and strength to play his best tennis at just the right time.” The two-time Australian Open champion then advised the 21-time Grand Slam winner not to be too “euphoric” about the future. He stated that he should relax tonight before focusing on the next. “The most important thing is that you don’t get overwhelmed by this moment: the semi-final is just around the corner and you must not look to the future with too much euphoria. You have to forget about the game, relax a bit tonight and then focus on the next one.”

Djokovic will take on Stefanos Tsitspas 

In a press conference after winning the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open, Novak Djokovic defended his father. “My father, my whole family, and myself have been through several wars during the ’90s,” he said. “As my father put in a statement, we are against war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family and for people in any country that is going through war. He was misused in this situation by this group of people. 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, and that’s it. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis,” he added.