"It’s his decision"- Craig Tiley claims Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan was free to attend Australian Open final

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has said that Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan was free to attend the Australian Open final.

Srdjan Djokovic was caught in a major controversy off the court as he was seen posing for pictures with Russian fans who were supporting Vladimir Putin and his war against Ukraine. He received a lot of criticism for it and decided not to attend his son's Australian Open semifinal against Tommy Paul.

However, Tiley said that Srdjan would be free to attend the final and claimed that it was his decision to be in the crowd for his son's showdown encounter against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“It’s his decision," Tiley told the Australian Associated Press. "We’re going to let it be his decision and ultimately he’s got to make the call. He didn’t breach any event policy."

Tiley stated that the allegations made about Srdjan were misleading and that "massive assumptions were made."

"That’s really important because what’s been written about what he (allegedly) said hasn’t been correct and I think people are back-tracking from that. That’s unfortunate that massive assumptions were made."

Tiley claimed that Srdjan's actions were not intentional and weren't designed to cause harm to anyone. He also stated that Serbian fans had been great throughout the Australian Open and added to the color of the event.

“I know him personally and his family was devastated by what happened," Tiley said. "It was not intentional and I agree with him and it was not designed to cause harm to anyone. It was an unfortunate situation and the Serbian fans have been great. Every day they’ve been very active and noisy and boisterous and that adds to the whole colour of the event."

He said that fans who were supporting Russia's war against Ukraine were "not welcome back" at Melbourne Park.

"Then you’ve got two or three or, in this case, four individuals that ruined it and they got evicted and are not welcome back," Tiley said.

He added:

"Ideally he didn’t get caught up in that but, in that moment, you don’t know and that’s unfortunate that that happened because we’re a platform, we’re a global platform, and any little thing like that starts to take on a life of its own, which it didn’t need to."

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"I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption"- Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan

Novak Djokovic in action at the Australian Open

Speaking on the controversy, Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan said that he had no intention of causing any sort of disruption at the Australian Open. All he did was celebrate his son's win and take pictures with fans.

"I am here to support my son only. I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption. I was outside with Novak's fans as I have done after all of my son's matches to celebrate his wins and take pictures with them," Srdjan said.

Novak Djokovic is looking to match Rafael Nadal's record tally of 22 Grand Slam titles by defeating Tsitsipas in the Australian Open final, which will also secure a record-extending 10th triumph at the Melbourne Major.