“The license is not ours,” Novak Djokovic addresses the cancellation of the Belgrade Open while expressing his desire to start new event
Novak Djokovic determined to conduct an ATP tournament in Serbia despite license issues for Belgrade Open.
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Novak Djokovic
Serbian World No.1 Novak Djokovic is not losing hopes of conducting an ATP tournament in Belgrade. As he said, he is seeking alternate ways to do it. In a recent interview, he revealed that license issues have put the possibility of the tournament in Belgrade under serious questions but the desire and passion are still there to make it possible, somehow.
As Novak said, “First of all, I must say that the licence is not ours. We leased it from its owner Ion Tiriac and now he wants it back, We wanted to buy the licence, to host the tournament in Serbia for many years to come, because we were successful – many people in the stands, ATP gave us excellent grades for all the efforts, but there is not much we can do when the owner doesn’t want to sell the licence. We have to respect that.”
The Belgrade Open started in 2009 and continued until 2012. It came back to the circuit in 2021 when the Budapest Open, an ATP 250 clay tournament agreed to change its location to Belgrade, Serbia under a lease agreement between the tournament director and license owner. (Source: Tennis Majors)
Novak Djokovic is the most successful player in the Serbian Open
The Serbian Open has been held for six years now. Novak Djokovic is the most successful player in it with two titles and one runner-up position. In the inaugural 2009 season, Djokovic was the champion and the atmosphere in the crowd was electrifying that day. Novak Djokovic again won the tournament in 2011 but had to finish as runner-up last year after losing to Andrey Rublev.
Due to various reasons, the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd being the top one, the Serbian World No.1 has said he will try to keep the tournament in his country itself. The place has given beautiful moments for Djokovic. His recent speech underlines the same, “We are now looking into two different alternatives to get the licence. Either to apply with the ATP for the new licence – which is less likely because there are many tournaments as it is – or to negotiate a lease on another licence.”
“Possibly to even buy that licence, but the prices have gone through the roof and most tournaments are profitable, so it is understandable that they don’t want to sell. Our desire is big, so we will see“
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