Novak Djokovic's brother Djordje appointed as tournament director of Serbia Open 2021

Novak Djokovic’s youngest brother Djordje Djokovic will be the tournament director of the 2021 Serbia Open. The confirmation of the appointment came after it was announced that Belgrade would henceforth host the now-defunct Hungarian Open.

The ATP website has confirmed this set of changes, while also mentioning that the 2021 edition of the Serbia Open will take place in Belgrade from 19-25 April.

Djordje Djokovic’s appointment as tournament director comes as a surprise given his questionable history in the role. Djordje had also served as the tournament director of the infamous Adria Tour, which got suspended midway due to a spree of players - including Novak Djokovic himself - testing positive for COVID-19.

Djordje’s inexperience came to the fore during the Adria Tour, as he failed to enforce key health protocols and struggled to contain the negative publicity around the event.

Novak Djokovic at the Adria Tour

Novak Djokovic’s brother is a former player himself. The 25-year-old’s highest singles ranking is 1463, and his best performance came at the 2015 China Open - where he made the quarterfinals in the doubles event.

Belgrade had hosted an ATP event earlier too, from 2009-2012. The tournament was known as the Serbia Open even back then, and was twice won by the 17-time Major champion Novak Djokovic (2009, 2011).

The 2021 Serbia Open will be held at the Novak Djokovic Tennis Center

Novak Djokovic

It has also come to light that the 2021 Serbia Open will be held at Novak Djokovic’s tennis center. The Serb’s family, who had run the previous editions of the Serbia Open too, have regained their position as the tournament organizers after agreeing to a lease with Ion Tiriac.

Noted sports journalist Tumaini Carayol has confirmed the news of Djokovic's state-of-the-art Academy hosting the ATP event.

*Serbia Open (April) will be at the Novak Tennis Centre which has 11 clay courts.Marbella (April) will be held Club de Tennis Puente Romano, which hosted ATP Challenger and WTA events. Singapore (February) is at the OCBC Arena, next door to where the WTA Finals were held. pic.twitter.com/t5TFy8A2A0

— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 20, 2021

The Novak Djokovic Tennis Center is one of the most prominent tennis training institutions in Eastern Europe. It has drawn widespread praise for its infrastructure and location, and boasts of 11 claycourts - which are said to be identical in quality to those at the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters.

It was also recently reported that Djokovic’s academy would be headed by his close friend Viktor Troicki. It now remains to be seen whether Troicki is instated in time, so that he can provide Djordje Djokovic with some much-needed guidance.