A former Davis Cup teammate of Novak Djokovic believes he can be ‘too open and honest’ about his plans after he was criticised for the timing of his departure from America earlier this month.
Janko Tipsarevic, who peaked at a high of eighth in the world during his career, has said it is illogical to attack his compatriot. On March 12th a post on Instagram from a member of Djokovic’s team said the world No.1 was on a plane back to Serbia. However, his departure occurred before the Miami Open was officially cancelled. Leading to some questioning if he had any advance knowledge about the upcoming suspension. Djokovic is the president of the ATP Player Council.
“So Djokovic is leaving the US before any tournaments post Indian Wells are cancelled or postponed. What information am I missing?,” Japan’s Taro Daniel wrote on Twitter.
“I know and 98 percent I assumed that the tournaments won’t happen. But he’s the head of the players’ council and leaving which means they’re not officially telling us something.” He later added.
On the day of Djokovic’s departure, the American government announced new travel restrictions on 26 European countries in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The cancellation of the Miami Open was announced shortly after Djokovic departed.
The speculation that Djokovic had some inside information beforehand has been blasted by Tipsarevic. During a recent interview with Sport Klub, the 35-year-old branded the debate as ‘stupid and idiotic.’ Tipsarevic won four ATP titles and reached the quarter-finals of the US Open twice during his career. He retired from the sport last year.
“Absolutely stupid and idiotic move. The decision made by Novak and the rest of us to leave doesn’t have anything to do with some ‘tip’ from the council, like we knew something before everyone else.” Tipsarevic told Sasa Ozmo from Sport Klub.
“It makes no sense for someone to attack Novak, in my opinion he is sometimes too open and honest with others about his plans.”
The ATP, WTA and ITF tour have all been suspended until June 7th due to the Coronavirus crises. At present Wimbledon is still hoping to go ahead as planned after the French Open announced they will be suspending their tournament until later this year. Although Tipsarevic isn’t too optimistic.
“We will be abnormally lucky if we play Wimbledon this year,’ he said.
Due to the freezing of the ranking system, Djokovic will remain world No.1 until at least June. He is currently on a 18-match winning streak and is yet to be beaten on the tour in 2020.
