'It reminds me of my childhood': tearful Djokovic sends fellow Serb into final
An emotional Novak Djokovic broke down in tears in front of a 4,000 crowd at his own tennis tournament after his 4-0, 1-4, 4-2 win against Alexander Zverev sent a fellow Serb, Filip Krajinovic, into the final on Sunday.
“I am not crying because I got knocked out of the tournament, I am just overwhelmed by emotion because this reminds me of my childhood,” the world No 1 told the crowd after he received a standing ovation. “It’s been an emotional few days and I want to thank everyone who made this possible. The important thing after this match is that we have one of our own in the final. I love you all and thank you so much for turning up.”
The tournament, held at Djokovic’s tennis complex in Belgrade, is the first leg of the charity event called the Adria Tour, with the second leg taking place in Zadar next weekend. The third leg, due to take place in Montenegro on 27-28 June, was cancelled on Saturday over coronavirus concerns and the final leg is to be staged in Banja Luka, Bosnia, on 3-4 July.
With sets slashed to best-of-seven games, the players are divided into two pools on a round-robin basis. Djokovic’s win against Zverev meant the two and Krajinovic all finished with a 2-1 win-loss record and an identical 5-3 set difference. Krajinovic, who stunned Djokovic on Saturday after losing against Zverev, squeezed through on the basis of having the best games differential among the three.
Austria’s world No 3, Dominic Thiem, and Bulgaria’s 19th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov were playing in the other section to decide which of the two will face Krajinovic in the final scheduled to start at 6pm GMT.