Eurosport - Thu, 16 Oct 07:53:00 2008
Serbia is set to host its first ATP tournament after Novak Djokovic and his family bought the rights to the 2009 Dutch Open.
The family now need the all-clear from the ATP board in order to stage the event in Belgrade.
"We closed out the deal with ... the Dutch Open and we bought the licence to have a tournament in Serbia," Djokovic said after reaching the third round of the Madrid Masters when Romanian Victor Hanescu retired injured in the third set.
"It is still not 100 percent. We still need to do some administrative work in the next couple of weeks, next couple of months.
"Towards the end of the year we will know if we have a tournament," added the Serb.
The event would be held in the same week on the calendar, in early May.
A spokesman for the ATP Tour declined to comment but did say that any proposal had to be approved by the board when they meet in Shanghai during next month's season-ending Masters Cup.
Comment 1 - 19 of 19
if NOVAK move to World no.1.,it's not b'coz of the nation but his ability and he worked so hard to reach world no.3,,,someday he will go to the top...they deserve to be.and the reason WHY it's called "SPORTS",TENNIS is the matter of one on one.His pride and be proud to be world no.3,,,go NOVAK,,,ALONG WITH ANNA AND JELENA,,,SERBIA MUST BE PRUOD,young and talented players they have,,,
you must be proud that they're not selfish,insteed of booming them,,,support them that they'll succeed for this plan,,for the sake of SEBIAN people and especialy to the PLAYERS,they proved enoung that they are worthed to have SERBIAN TOURNAMENT,,,,all the best and go for it,,,GOD BLESS
late reply
i think your country started the war first was Slovenia (only 2 weeks),Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina and the list goes on and on SO who tortured who?
please read some books
and did someone tortured you ? :-) yes maybe you`v seen tortured country, tortured with NATO bombs, and long time economic sanctions. And you are so used to have everything what you want....But this is a different storry.
Country that has soo many well know top sportist, and only in Tennis: Novak, Jelana, Ana... we are proud people, don`t hate enyone, like others do !
:-) GO NOVAK, GO JELENA, GO ANA !
i have been to you country and hated every minute of it ,nice buildings in centre of Belgrade but it ends there sorry.Go down, Ana , Jelena Forehead,Novak
I hope one they you will visit our contry. You would be surprised what wrong impression propaganda can make :-)
go Novak ! go Jelena ! go Ana !
so he buys a tournament i wonder why?
could your fantastic peace-full country have been rewarded one?
oh well at least you have something apart from war criminals just lets hope you don't torture players
@rslessix
no no !
:-)
go NOVAK !
the guy is a @#$%
so sorry Vic, Murray is improving, but hi is still far from Novak, not only in points !
Yes he beet him twice in a row this year, but Novak 4-5 times before. He will find his real game, this is not Novak`s best game. And it would be pretty hard against Karlovic, to any other player, when he is serving like this.
Am so glad he got dumped out of Madrid, can't stand him! Well done Ivo1 Hope Murray can move up to number three!
@rslessix
look who is talking , he he ! :-)
should not be aloud they are ruining this great game ,rudest family
shame
Excellent idea comming from the very tallented, excellent player!
This is good for Serbian tennis...
Novak is doing this for his nation.
remember that this is an investment with a return, not some donation
I think it's a great idea. A great way to boost our country's image, and it just shows how the Djokovic family isn't selfish with their money. They already spend heaps building tennis centres in Serbia and helping poor children and families, as well as humanitarian projects for the abused Serbian children in Kosovo.
is there nothing they will do for attention? or do they think it will get him the #1 spot?
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