20-time record Grand Slam winner Roger Federer of Switzerland. (Getty Images)
Novak Djokovic’s brother Djordje Djokovic who is organizing the Serbian Open has promised Roger Federer that he would be a part of the tournament next year onwards.
The Serbian Open is all set to return to the ATP calendar after a nine-year gap. The tournament was last held in Belgrade, from 2009 to 2012.
Interestingly it is Novak Djokovic’s brother Djordje who will be organising the tournament, and there is no guarantee that Nole would be part of this competition.
In a bid to draw bring in more sponsorships, Dominic Thiem has also been invited to attend the event. However, consensus GOAT Roger Federer was not sent an invitation due to the worries that he might charge an exorbitant fee.
Speaking about this, Djordje said :
“We have not invited Roger this year because we had to consider our budget; we could not afford to spend all of our money on one player.”
He justified it saying that they had to distribute money for a wider reach, while maintaining that Federer would be a part of the tournament in the coming years.
He then said:
“It is my sincere hope that we will be able to host him at least once before he ends his career. We will invite him next year; I can promise that.”
Roger Federer made a return to professional tennis, only last month at the Qatar Open. He had been sidelined for a whopping 14 months due to an injury on his right knee.
He looked quite out of sorts at the Qatar Open, as he got past Dan Evans in the first round, only to be stopped by Nikoloz Basilashvili in the next. The Wimbledon great will be taking a brief hiatus once again, as he isn’t featured in the list for the upcoming Rome Masters.
He is also expected to skip Madrid and Geneva masters, in a bid to be fit for the Roland Garros.
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