Why is Novak Djokovic playing at the ATP 250 tournament in Athens?
There are a few reasons why Djokovic is playing in Athens this week, the main one being that his family own the tournament. This is the event that usually takes place in his hometown of Belgrade, Serbia, but this year it has been moved to Greece.
The Hellenic Championships will be played at the Telekom Center Athens, which was one of the Olympic venues of Athens 2004. Holding up to 18,000 spectators, the arena hosted basketball, artistic gymnastics, and trampoline at the Games.
Although Djokovic has already qualified for next week’s ATP Finals, this tournament serves as valuable preparation. The year-end finals in Turin, Italy, are held on indoor hard courts – the same conditions as Athens – while the Serbian has not played a competitive match since his Shanghai semi-final exit over three weeks ago.
Djokovic is not the only Olympic medallist competing in the Greek capital. He is joined by Lorenzo Musetti (Paris 2024 men’s singles bronze) and Stan Wawrinka (Beijing 2008 men’s doubles gold) in a solid ATP 250 lineup.
As the tournament top seed, Djokovic begins his Athens campaign in the round of 16 against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo on Tuesday (4 November).
Tabilo has a rare 2-0 record against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, one of just three players to have never lost in at least two meetings. For Djokovic, he will hope that his Athenian debut will bring him fortune in his competition debut this week.