World No.1 Novak Djokovic is planning to participate in a series of exhibition matches in the capital cities of every nation of the former Yugoslavia.
The upcoming exhibition was revealed by world No.94 Damir Dzumhur, who recently spoke with Djokovic in Miami during the second Masters tournament of the year. The Bosnian No.1 said during a press conference in his home country on Friday that the proposed exhibition matches will likely occur at either the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.
“According to the latest information that I got from Nole, he really wants to come to Sarajevo and BiH. He hopes that by the end of this year or early next year, we could organize one match in each capital of countries of the former Yugoslavia, so the matches would be played in Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, and we’ll probably go to Montenegro as well,” The Sarajevo Times quoted Dzumhur as saying.
According to a report by Serbian website Blic Sports, other potential names for the exhibition include Marin Cilic, Goran Ivanisevic and some unnamed players from Slovenia.
Yugoslavia formed in 1918 after the first world war. The country used to consist of six socialist republics (SR) which were SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Slovenia, and SR Serbia. The former country broke-up in the early 1990’s due to a series of political differences and rivalries. Following the break-up, a series of wars troubled the region throughout the 1990’s.
Djokovic and Dzumhur have previously talked about growing up in war. Djokovic was only 12-year-old when the NATO bombing of Belgrade began as he trained on the tennis courts with planes continuously flying over him. In his book ‘Serve To Win’, the world No.1 describe one of his most traumatic experiences of the conflict.
“Rising up from over the roof of our building came the steel gray triangle of an F-117 bomber. I watched in horror as its great metal belly opened directly above me, and two laser-guided missiles dropped out of it, taking aim at my family, my friends, my neighborhood—everything I’d ever known … I didn’t stop shivering for the rest of the night.” He wrote.
Dzumhur’s early tennis career was also disrupted due to war. He had to travel to Italy for training after the effects of the Bosnian war left facilities in his country in poor shape.
The venues for the upcoming exhibition is yet to be decided.
