Novak Djokovic won’t copy Rafael Nadal’s Olympic Village decision after ‘terrible’ encounters in Tokyo
Novak Djokovic has opted not to stay in the Olympic Village at the Paris Games with the tennis great determined to “learn from his previous Olympic experiences”.
Former world No 1 Djokovic will compete at his fifth Olympics as he will represent Serbia in the tennis tournament alongside Dusan Lajovic.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner is yet to arrive in Paris, but Serbian officials have confirmed that he won’t stay with the rest of the squad at the Olympic Village, which is situated north of the French capital in parts of the towns Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, and L’Ile-Saint-Denis.
“We expect Novak to arrive within the next few days, although he will not be staying with us in the Village,” an official told CLAY.
Fellow tennis players Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray are staying in the Olympic Village in Paris while Djokovic is expected to stay in one of the city’s top hotels.
The move from Djokovic is in contrast to his 2021 decision when he stayed with fellow athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Village, but it is not a surprise.
Ahead of the 2024 Paris Games he admitted in an interview with the ITF that while he enjoyed his 2021 experience, he needs to learn from it.
“Just being in that village, you feel incredibly inspired and proud to be there,” he explained. “But also I’m going to learn from my previous Olympic experiences and try and keep my routine so that I can perform my best.”
Three years ago Djokovic was one of the biggest stars at the Tokyo Games and he was looking to complete the fourth leg of a Golden Slam (winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and singles gold at the Olympics).
He ended up losing in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev while he also lost the bronze medal match against Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain.
Despite it being an enjoyable stay in the village, it also ended up being a draining one with Serbian rower Jovana Arsic explaining how he everyone wanted a piece of the tennis great.
“The guy was eating and they would be curious about what is on his plate… you won’t believe it, it’s terrible… I managed to take a photo with him, I was a little skeptical about it ‘should I approach him when everyone is bothering him?’” she told Nova.rs.
“It takes a lot of energy, then you have to go to the court to do your best, to focus on the game, on some other things. Everyone wants to talk to you, to exchange a few sentences. Even I had encounters, and I’m not as big a star as Djokovic, I can imagine how much it drained his energy.”
