Novak Djokovic‘s brother, Djordje, tried to get Rafael Nadal to join the Belgrade Open. The tournament was one of the last ATP 250 events in 2024, along with the Moselle Open in Metz, where Benjamin Bonzi won against Cameron Norrie.
Denis Shapovalov had a great win at the Belgrade Open by beating Hamad Medjedovic in the final. This victory helped him climb up in the ATP rankings while Djokovic slipped down after losing points from last year’s ATP Finals win.
Djokovic didn’t play at this year’s season-ending event and is now focusing on preparing for the 2025 Australian Open. However, he surprised everyone by showing up at the Belgrade Open on its second day. Fans were thrilled as he signed autographs for them.
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Big Names and Big Plans:
Though he didn’t compete there, Djokovic attended to support his brother Djordje, who is the tournament director. Djordje had hoped to make things even more exciting by inviting Nadal to join too. Imagine both legends together—it would have been epic! But fans know that sometimes plans don’t work out as expected.
Nadal has decided not to participate since he’s getting ready for his final performance before retiring at this month’s Davis Cup Finals. Djordje thought it was worth a shot because having Grand Slam winners like Nadal would bring a lot of attention.
“We also wanted to bring Nadal,” Djordje shared. “He has decided to end his career, and they told us he had some other plans in his schedule.”
Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic did show up instead; although neither advanced far, their presence drew big crowds—especially during Wawrinka’s match against Laslo Djere from Serbia.
Nadal skipped saying goodbye at Paris Masters despite winning 14 French Opens there; thus appearing in Belgrade seemed unlikely anyway. Now fans eagerly await seeing him compete one last time professionally at Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
What do you think about all these changes?
