Novak Djokovic paid his tribute to Sinisa Mihajlovic, a former Serbian footballer and coach who passed away after battling cancer. Mihajlovic, 53, passed away on Friday after battling cancer for the past few years. Mihajlovic, who enjoyed a successful football career before he entered the coaching waters, left a major mark on Serbian sports.
“Rest in peace, dear Sinisa. My condolences to the Mihajlovic family. Thank you for everything you did for our sport, as well as in Italy. Your mark is indelible,” Djokovic wrote on Twitter.
Djokovic is preparing for the 2023 season
Next week, Djokovic will be participating in the inaugural World Tennis League.
After competing in the Dubai exhibition, Djokovic will head to Australia, where he is set to return 12 months after the Australia visa saga. Leading up to the Australian Open, Djokovic plans to compete at the Adelaide International.
In early 2021, Djokovic spent two weeks in quarantine in Adelaide and he had an exhibition match scheduled there against Jannik Sinner. After withdrawing late from the exhibition, Djokovic still showed up on the court and played one set.
Adelaide tournament director Alistair MacDonald was recently asked about the bizarre scene from 2021. “We saw in those two weeks that Djokovic was in quarantine here in Adelaide that he has a heck of a lot of fans here.
Ultimately, in the end he did play that year and of course things can go wrong, but he’s committed and we expect he will play again,” MacDonald told News Corp. Going into the Australian swing, some feel Djokovic may not receive a warm reception in his Australia return.
“Covid was a pretty tough time for everyone and his experience probably didn’t go the way he wanted it to last year, but 2023 is a fresh start. It’s probably not our position to judge how he will be received, but he’s a great player and will certainly drive interest in the event,” MacDonald explained.