Same family, different tennis, different paths.
Marko Djokovic is not new to wild cards. He received more than 40 in the professional tennis from 2007.
Ranked 869 (and with a 0-2 record in ATP matches) received a highly controversial wild card also in Dubai. The situation got a bit awkward since the tournament organizers did promise the wild card to No. 104 Malek Jaziri of Tunisia (more than 750 positions above Marko). At the last moment they denied the wild card to him to give it to Marko…. ehm …Nole’s brother. Frankly speaking… it does not look fair to Malek. We love highly competitive, meritocratic and fair tennis. Otherwise… what’s for?
The outcome of the match was obvious. Young Djokovic lost 6-3 6-2 to Golubev in 71 minutes with some awkward statistics such as 7 double faults (no aces), 41% of 1st serve in, 8 break points conceded (4 saved).
For losing in the first round, he received 11.825usd which is the sum of the prize money of the entire tournament that he previously played in Turkey (a 10.000usd future) and where he lost in straight sets with a qualifier… ah … and guess what? He got in with a wild card.
On the other side, we finally had fantastic Nole that, after some time off (and for a reason… remember his final at the Australian Open?), was back to his tennis. Nole dispatched Stebe in 1h 28m without playing his usual incredible tennis, but displaying once more his confidence.
To end the Djokovic’s Saga, the very good news is that it seems that Nole’s brother (the third one), Djordje, is really strong and he may really have a bright tennis future. We really hope so, but then it would become a real nightmare for the rest of the pack to compete not only with one, but with two (highly competitive) Djokovic!!!
That would be awesome!
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