Although the countries of the former Yugoslavia are not the ideal milieu for the creation of tennis champions, it is simply unbelievable how tennis players from this region managed to build great careers and win the appraisal of many people.
In the countries where the smell of gunpowder was felt in the nineties, in the countries who were under sanctions and where traveling was an abstract noun, the champions of world scale were growing. The true aces. The players who were connected with the same struggle, but who managed to become the best in what they do.
Apart from being awesome in the magical rectangle, they are also great friends. That is why they, with the best tennis player in the world Novak Đoković on the head, decided to play exhibition matches in the capitals of the republics of the former Yugoslavia.
Imagine Đoković, Džumhur, Troicki, Tipsarević, Zimonjić, Ivanišević, Karlović, Ćorić in one place… All halls would be too small.
Novak said in London that he is one of the main advocates of those exhibition matches.
“I am somewhat of a Yugo-nostalgia guy. Although I did not live in Yugoslavia, I feel the bond because I have family in Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. I did not experience any unpleasantness with tennis players from the former Yugoslavia. Even when we talked about those sensitive topics, we all agreed that war did not bring anything good,” Novak said.
The idea is to make the exhibitions a charity event and to spread tolerance and unity through sports.
“The idea was born out of friendship. We all know how many tension there is since the disintegration of that country, and sport is one of the rare fields that unites people,” Đoković said.
Although Damir Džumhur, the best BiH tennis player, announced that the exhibitions might be held already at the end of this season, Novak has a different plan.
“It would be best to do it next season. The idea is to organize matches in the period of seven days,” Đoković said.
(Source: avaz.ba/photo: avaz.ba)
