Novak Djokovic breaks down in tears in front of home fans

Novak Djokovic broke down in tears after he won his Adria Tour match against German Alexander Zverev in front of home fans. The Belgrade crowd gave Djokovic a standing ovation after the game.

The 33-year old Serbian won the match 4-0, 1-4, 4-2. Despite winning the match, Djokovic was eliminated from the tournament. His victory ensured that fellow Serbian, Filip Krajinovic, qualified for the final.

Later, in the final match, Krajinovic lost 3-4, 4-2, 2-4 against Austrian world number three Dominic Thiem.

With sets being slashed to best-of-seven games, players were divided into two pools where they faced each other on a round-robin basis. Djokovic's victory against Zverev meant that the two as well as Krajinovic, all finished with a 2-1 win-loss record. Interestingly, all three of them had an identical 5-3 set difference.

In this regard, Krajinovic, who stunned the Joker on Saturday after losing against Zverev, qualified for the final because he had the best games differential among those players.

The competition that was held at Djokovic's tennis complex in Belgrade, was the first leg of a charity event called the Adria Tour. The second leg of the tournament would take place in Zadar over the next weekend.

The third leg, which was due to be held in Montenegro on June 27-28, was cancelled on Saturday amidst novel coronavirus concerns. Serbian citizens have been banned from entering Montenegro in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The final leg would be staged on July 3-4 in Banja Luka, Bosnia.

After his exit in the first leg, BBC quoted the world number one saying, "I am not crying because I got knocked out of the tournament. I am just overwhelmed by emotion because this reminds me of my childhood. It's been an emotional few days and I want to thank everyone who made this possible. The important thing after this match is that we have one of our own in the final. I love you all and thank you so much for turning up."

Djokovic set up the competition in an attempt to help tennis players restore their match fitness after spending several weeks without playing.

In another event named the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, an event that Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou created, some of the top 10 players are competing in Nice, France.

Matches are all held behind closed doors.

It seems that the players have gotten the opportunity to practice well before the regular ATP Tour season, which is expected to restart after July 31.