Djokovic Doesn’t See Dominant Asian Male On The Horizon

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 3rd October 2013

Djokovic Doesn't See Dominant Asian Male On The Horizon

epa03890667 Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic during their men's singles match in the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 01 October 2013. EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA |

Novak Djokovic says that he is having a blast at the tournament in Beijing. He is being flowed by fans everywhere and is being showered with gifts. But while he appreciates the attention, he was very honest when asked about whether and Asian male could soon dominate tennis.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori is the top ranked Asian male at No. 13. Mainland China has no players of significance, although Wi Di did push John Isner to three sets at the Beijing tournament and Zhang Ze is ranked No 193. Taiwanese veteran Yen-Hsun Lu is ranked just outside of the top 50 and the Korean junior Chung Hyeon reached the Wimbledon Boys’ final, but there is no clear super-elite player on the horizon.

“Domination is a very strong word, so I think that being dominant in this sport is I think the ultimate goal, and something that’s very difficult to achieve,” Djokovic said. “First we have to see Asian players more coming towards the top of men’s tennis. We have Nishikori? He’s top 20 now. So we have one, you know, and not many coming up. So I think there has to be first of all, well, I guess kind of a system that can support this sport in this part of the world. With bigger support and awareness about tennis, I think you can expect better results. I think domination is not realistic for Asian players at this moment because they haven’t had any big success on Grand Slams.

“In next five years I don’t see it happening, but, maybe I’m wrong. There are big countries who have love and respect towards all sports and especially tennis, because I can see China has two huge tournaments, Beijing and Shanghai, that are one of the best tournaments in the world. They love to see the top players, but they struggle to have their own local heroes at the men’s game at the top.”

Djokovic comes from small country, Serbia, which was once part of Yugoslavia. A number of decent pros came out of that region, but it wasn’t until some key teaching pros began to push the sport to juniors during the 1990s that it really caught fire. Now the country has produced three No. 1 s since 2008 Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Djokovic.

“ It’s all about having this awareness and really trying to invest not just the money but time and knowledge and expertise into a player,” Djokovic said. “It’s a full project for many years. It’s not something that happens over two years.”

Djokovic has been playing Beijing since 2009. The ATP 500-level event is celebrating its 10th year. The Serbian is impressed by the event’s new stadium and the tournament organization.

“I think that as everything in life, it’s evolving,” he said. “People always learn something new in terms of this sport, in terms of the way the tournament should be organized. I think the fact that China Open is for many years already voted from the players as one of the best tournaments in the world after Grand Slams is saying enough about positive results that all the people who are contributing to the organization of that event bring.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Ana Ivanovic, Atp, China Open, Jelena Jankovic, John Isner, Kei Nishikori, Novak Djokovic, Tennis, Tennis News, Wi Di