By DPA,
London : Novak Djokovic can officially don two hats after his family consortium will host an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour event in home town Belgrade.
The world number three will leave most of the heavy organisational lifting to his relatives, but is delighted that his behind-the-scenes work over the past months finally resulted in a first tennis stop for the newest power nation in the game.
“I’m very excited that we are able to create an opportunity in Serbia to be a part of the ATP World Tour,” said Djokovic, the defending Australian Open champion.
“My family, along with myself, is also very emotional about that. Tennis is a very popular sport in my country and we are happy that having a ATP World Tour 250 event from 2009 will help us show the world the beauty of my home town Belgrade and of Serbia,” he said.
Belgrade will host the Serbia Open next May following approval from the ATP board after Djokovic’s family bought the organising rights of a bankrupt Dutch event last year.
The clay event will run from May 4.