Novak Djokovic has declared his father was “misused” as he was seen posing for pictures with Russian demonstrators on the Australian Open.
The 9-time Aussie Open champion says he’s planning on having his father Srdan return to his taking part in field for the ultimate on Sunday evening following his semi-final win over Tommy Paul on Friday evening.
The Serbian had a mini-meltdown as he misplaced his cool late within the first set over a serving clock problem and commentators have stated he appeared “visibly stressed” regardless of the 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 scoreline.
Djokovic hit out on the controversy surrounding his father in his submit match press convention, saying there was a “misinterpretation” of images showing his father posing with a Russian flag that had Vladimir Putin’s face on it.
He admitted the scandal “got to me”, however maintained no hurt was meant. He pressured his father’s remark when talking to the group of demonstrators — as heard within the video posted by a pro-Russian YouTuber — was merely “cheers”.
Newsagency inews.co.uk first reported a free translation of his remark was “Long live the Russians”.
The video was additionally captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement.”
The 35-year-old Djokovic pressured that his father had “no intention whatsoever to support any war initiatives”.
“I saw as everyone else saw what happened and it was unfortunate the misinterpretation of what happened has escalated to such a high level,” Djokovic stated after his semi-final.
“It has got to me of course. I was not aware of it until last night. And then of course I was not pleased to see that.
“My father, my whole family, have been through several wars. As my father put in the statement, we are against the war. We will never support any violence or war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war.”
He stated his father had been greeting followers outdoors Rod Laver Enviornment after each match he performed to thank them for his or her help when he crossed paths with the Russian demonstrators.
“The photo that he made, he was passing through. I heard what he said in the video. He said, ‘Cheers’. Unfortunately some of the media has interpreted that in a really wrong way,” he stated.
“I’m sorry that that has escalated so much. But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that.
“My father, as I said, was passing through. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. That’s it. He moved on.
Djokovic senior had earlier said that he would not attend the semi-final, insisting in a statement that he “wishes only for peace”.
“I am here to support my son only. I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption,” Srdjan Djokovic stated, after he confronted calls to be banned from the event.
Djokovic maintains his father did nothing incorrect.
“He was misused in this situation by this group of people,” he stated.
“That’s what happened. I can’t be angry with him or upset because I can say it was not his fault. He went out to celebrate with my fans, and that’s it.”
On the courtroom, Djokovic seemed to be exhibiting indicators of stress with tennis journalist David Legislation saying on The Tennis Podcast “it looked like it really got to him”.
“He lost his compure completely at 5-1,” he stated.
Host Catherine Whittaker additionally stated: “He was stressed on court tonight. It was evident.
“It might have been a three sets victory and it might look like it was never really in doubt, but there were a couple moments where it got tight.”
Initially revealed as Novak Djokovic says dad ‘misused’, planning to return for final
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