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Tennis

Melbourne Park to honour Novak Djokovic with a statue

Published at :January 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Modified at :January 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
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Novak Djokovic has won the highest number of Australian Open titles.

Ten-time Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic, has enjoyed tremendous success Down-Under. The Serbian’s consistency on the hard courts of Melbourne knows no bounds, and a 10-0 win-loss ratio in Australian Open finals further underlines his greatness.

However, his performance on court have not been sufficient to win the Aussie crowd. Djokovic has had to deal with constant heckling and booing and was the centrepeice of one of tennis’ biggest controversies. During the 2022 Australian Open, which was the period just after COVID-19, the 24-time Grand Slam winner was deported back to Serbia for his rigid stand against vaccination.

The 37-year-old recently revealed shocking facts from the ‘traumatic’ tour prior to the marquee event. His love-hate relationship with the crowd continued this year, with constant arguments with members of the crowd and a massive dispute with a channel nine TV host, due to which Djokovic even skipped the customary on-court conference.

To recognize the Serbian’s achievements, Australian Open director Craig Tiley said that tennis greats like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Serena Williams should have their statues at the Melbourne Park. Tiley talked about the importance of honouring big players.

“I’d like to have a whole precinct full of statues of the great tennis players. Every year we put up a new statue of an Australian and this precinct is about tennis, it was built with tennis in mind,” Craig Tiley told News Corp. The director believes the first statue should honour Novak Djokovic, who has won a record 10 Australian Open titles and holds an impressive 99 victories in Melbourne.

While Tiley would require an approval from the state government and the Olympic Parks Trust to commission a statue for Djokovic, the proposal has sparked mixed reactions among fans. In the Australian Open 2025, the sixth seed’s hopes for a 25th career slam were cut-short as he was forced to retire following a muscle tear which the Serbian sustained in his victory over Alcaraz.

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