Serbia postal service honours Novak Djokovic with stamps
World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic has got a huge recognition from his native Serbia, which has celebrated his achievements by issuing stamps featuring him.
Djokovic, who has so far won 20 Major titles, made history recently by securing the year-end No. 1 ATP ranking for a record seventh time, breaking the tie with American legend Pete Sampras.
“An honour to receive my very own Serbian stamp. Thank you to my generous country for this rare gift! I’m humbled!!” Djokovic wrote on Twitter. “Gratitude for everyone that brought this together. Now Jelena Djokovic and I will take some stamps home for the kids to write to Santa.” The artwork was done by Boban Savic, with references to some of Djokovic’s greatest accomplishments.
Novak Djokovic’s life
Novak Djokovic, who was born on May 22, 1987, in Serbia, is a professional tennis player. He is married to Jelena Ristić and has two siblings — Djordje and Marko. The player can speak Serbian, English, French, German, and Italian languages.
Career
Djokovic is a nine-time champion at the Australian Open, including each of the past three years. He owns 20 Grand Slam singles titles in all, tying him with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most won by a man in tennis history.
Novak Djokovic started playing tennis at the age of four when his parents sent him to a tennis camp in Novi Sad. In 1993, a Serbian tennis player and coach Jelena Genčić noticed and acknowledged his budding skills. She became his coach until 1999 and for his further development, he was trained by Nikola Pilić, Marián Vajda and Boris Becker in the later years.
He gradually reached the ranks and began his international career in 2001 at the age of 14 and won European championships in singles, doubles, and team categories. In 2007, he reached the finals of the US Open but lost in straight sets to Swiss tennis player Roger Federer.
Djokovic won his first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, in 2008 and emerged the first Serbian to win one of tennis’ four most prestigious singles championships. Later that year, he bagged a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
In 2020, he continued to clinch titles at the Australian Open, winning his 17th Grand Slam title. At the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic recorded the 100th grass-court win of his career by defeating Márton Fucsovics in the quarterfinal.
2022 Australian Open controversy
In January 2022, Djokovic was one of the few players and staff to be granted a medical exemption from mandatory Covid-19 vaccination by Tennis Australia and the Department of Health of the state government of Victoria for the Australian Open tournament.
He travelled to Melbourne on January 5 but was detained by the Australian Border Force after they determined he did not meet the entry requirements for an unvaccinated traveller. His visa was cancelled and he was held in an immigration detention hotel for several days awaiting a court hearing. It was later revealed that Djokovic tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16, 2021, which was used as the basis for his exemption. Djokovic stated that he was notified of the positive test on December 17 and admitted that he did not isolate afterwards, attending an interview and photoshoot.
On January 10, the Federal Circuit and Family Court ruled in favour of Djokovic, ordering his release and awarding costs.
