Novak Djokovic’s dad slams “jealous” Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic’s father has accused Roger Federer of being “jealous” of his son as the rivalry between the two tennis legends continue.
Speaking to Serbian newspaper Novosti, Srdan Djokovic said the Swiss ace was jealous of the Serbian for being the “better” player.
“Federer has been jealous of Novak since the moment he made his breakthrough because he knew that my son was better than him and that he would tower over him,” Srdan said.
“Federer is an outstanding tennis player, but I couldn’t say that about his humanity.”
Srdan also lamented the media portrayal of the current world number one player. “It is unbelievable what everything is written about Novak,” he said.
“Nobody in the history of sports, not just tennis, accepts defeats like Novak. If he loses, he will go … even towards his opponents, congratulates them, kisses them and tells them, ‘Bravo, master, you were better than me today.’
“And yet he has never received a fair play award like the one that Federer is constantly given.”
In a press conference on Wednesday, Novak jokingly said that he, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer avoid each other in the locker room.
“We mostly avoid each other,” he laughed.
“Locker rooms aren’t that big everywhere, so we sometimes hide behind our lockers or something like that.”
He added, “Sometimes we take shower cabins next to each other, but we don’t look. It’s a bit uncomfortable, we are in awkward situations there with our team, huge emotions are on the line.”