Djokovic: My father passed by, he had no intention of supporting any military initiatives

Former world number one Novak Djokovic commented on the scandal with his father Srjan. The 21-time Grand Slam champion said his father’s actions were misinterpreted.

“Well, yes, I saw, as everyone else saw, what happened yesterday. It was a shame that the misinterpretation of what happened yesterday escalated to such a high level. There were, I would say, a lot of conversations with the tournament director, with the media and everyone else. It came, of course, to me. I didn’t know about it until last night. Then, of course, it was unpleasant for me to see it.

“My father, all my family and I survived several wars in the 90s. As my father said, we are against war, we will never support violence or war. We know the devastation this brings to families, to people in any country that is going through a war. That’s the first thing I want to say.”

“The second thing I want to say is that my father, as he said in a statement, after each match, meets with my fans in the main square here at the Australian Open to thank them for their support, to be with them, to show respect to them and to make Photo”.

“The photo he took… he was passing by. I heard what he said on the video. He said: “Your health (thanks/happiness)”. Unfortunately, some of the media have really misunderstood this. I’m sorry it escalated so much. But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention to support any military initiatives or anything like that.”

“My father, as I said, was passing by. There were many Serbian flags around. So he thought. He thought he was taking a photo with someone from Serbia. That’s all. He went on. Of course it’s frustrating for me to go through this with all the things I’ve had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. This is not what I want or what I need. I hope people leave it alone and we can focus on tennis.”

Recall that Srdjan Djokovic was caught on video with a fan in a T-shirt with the Z symbol in Melbourne during the Australian Open-2023. On the recording, Djokovic Sr. says “Long live the Russians,” “our brothers in Moscow,” and sends his regards to the famous Russian biker Alexander Zaldostanov, who holds rallies in support of Russian politics.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasily Miroshnichenko called this behavior “a shame for the tournament.” The Ambassador demanded that the organizers take the necessary measures.

Earlier, Vasily Miroshnichenko appealed to the organizers of the Australian Open-2023 with a request to respond to the demonstration of the Russian flag during the match between Ukrainian Katerina Beindl and Russian Kamilla Rakhimova.