Novak overcomes furore over father
NOVAK Djokovic admitted the furore over his father being filmed with supporters of Vladimir Putin affected him ahead of his Australian Open semi-final victory against Tommy Paul.
The Serbian will take on Stefanos Tsitsipas tomorrow in his 33rd grand slam final as he bids to equal Rafael Nadal’s record tally of 22 titles, while the winner will overtake Carlos Alcaraz as world number one.
His 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over American Paul looks straightforward on the scoreboard but Djokovic lost four games in a row from 5-1 up in the opening set.
Srdjan Djokovic released a statement yesterday saying he had been unwittingly caught up in the pro-Russia demonstration as he took pictures with his son’s fans and had decided not to attend the match to ensure there was ‘no disruption’.
Djokovic Sr was included as part of a YouTube video released by a Russian activist. The subtitles on the video stated Srdjan Djokovic had made a pro-Russia comment, but Serbian media translated it simply as him bidding the men farewell.
The player said: “It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened has escalated to such a high level.
There was a lot of conversations with the tournament director, with media and everyone else.
“It has got to me, of course, as well.
“My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the 1990s. 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.
“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. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”
A decision has not yet been made over whether Djokovic’s father will attend the final.
The player added: “Of course, it wasn’t pleasant not to have him in the box. It’s a decision that we made together. I would like to have him there for the finals.”
The 35-year-old has now won a record 27 consecutive matches at Melbourne Park.
“I’m, of course, very satisfied and pleased to be in another grand slam final,” said Djokovic.
“This is exactly what I’ve imagined and hoped will happen when I came to Australia.”
Paul was left with mixed feelings, with the 25-year-old saying of his first match against Djokovic: “Walking on the court was cool. Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked.”
Earlier, Tsitsipas overcame a third-set wobble to defeat Karen Khachanov 7-6 (1) 6-4 6-7 (6) 6-3 and reach his first Australian Open final.
The Greek looked set to win comfortably but was unable to serve out the match in the third set and then missed two match points in the tie-break before regrouping.
He will now try to go one better than his only previous slam final at the French Open in 2021, when he led Djokovic by two sets to one but lost out in five.