Ambassador of the Belgrade Open, Marian Vajda, attracted a lot of attention from the Serbian public, which was the reason for the press conference of the Director of the Belgrade Open, Djordje Djokovic, along with the president of the Tennis Association of Serbia, Goran Djokovic, and former coach of Novak Djokovic.
“The arrival of our ambassador Marjan Vajda in Belgrade is a big deal. We have shown the owners of the franchise that we are serious, and we expect to resolve the issue of ownership of part of the tournament by February. For now, we certainly have next year, and by February we expect news that for the next ten years we will have solved the issue of organizing an ATP tournament in Belgrade. As the Belgrade Open, we have always been in favor of humanitarian work, and it is the same now with the seedlings; we will transfer part of the earnings to the Tennis Association of Serbia for the organization of challengers and futures. That is our plan – to establish a series of tournaments in Serbia, which would help the development of young players in the years to come and put Serbia alongside the leading tennis nations of the world. Ownership of the franchise would also lead to the postponement of the tournament, because we can choose one of the three dates in the already shortened ATP calendar,” said the Director of the Belgrade Open, Djordje Djokovic.
The President of the Tennis Association of Serbia followed by saying that “the first and most pressing problem, which we will solve with the help of the state, is the construction of the National Training Center. Together with the series of tournaments that we already support, especially in Kursumlijska Banja, it will be a real incentive for young players to earn points more easily for the rankings. Marian Vajda is also with us now, and we expect to organize good cooperation with the Slovak Tennis Federation, which, with Vajda, invests the most in the development of young players from 10 to 15 years of age. Admittedly, the Slovaks have a budget seven or eight times larger than ours, but that does not prevent us from keeping up the good work. Through our cooperation we expect to make the path to senior tennis even easier for our young players,” said TSS president Goran Djokovic.
Marian Vajda did not hide his enthusiasm for the potential.
“This is my second home.” I always had real friends in Serbia, and it is the same now, when I returned after three years. We have room for cooperation, both federations have the same goal, and now I saw on the court that you don’t have to worry about the future of tennis. I believe that together we can do a lot of good things for young people who decide to play our sport,” said Marian Vajda.
