World number one Novak Djokovic following his victory in the quarter finals of ATP Finals in London opined that a bare minimum of 10% audience during the Australian Open in January would be a welcome respite for tennis players across the world. The 33-year-old who lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the finals of the French Open in October is hopeful that fans will be allowed to return to stadiums during the Australian Open at Melbourne come January. 

Ever since the resumption of tennis tournaments across the globe, most tournaments have been conducted in a biosecure bubble, like the US Open, with a limited few allowing fans to attend like the French Open with numerous restrictions.

Djokovic, who plays Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday stated, “If Australia happens, I’m hearing that we are going to have at least 50% of the capacity of the stadium. That’s a lot, I think even 10% would be huge for us at this stage,” as per Reuters report.

The 17-time-men’s singles Grand Slam title winner Djokovic added, “Just hearing the applause and hearing the fans and sensing their energy and their emotion and their kind of excitement for being there and cheering you on on the court, that’s something that I think we’re all missing.”

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Earlier in the year Swiss ace Roger Federer too had opined that contesting in Grand Slams and various tournaments in the absence of fans was unthinkable.

Djokovic who successfully defended his Australian Open Men’s Singles title in 2020, will look to take centre stage at the Rod Laver Arena, the biggest at Melbourne Park,  can hold a crowd of 15,000 strong.

Djokovic who has had unparalleled success at the Australian open, stated that the setback of ‘walking into an empty stadium’ was temporary and added that he was happy that the season could be resumed despite the pandemic.

The Serb stated “Strange is probably the right word to describe the season, but nevertheless I still feel like we played a lot of tournaments considering we had a six-months gap in the middle of the season.”  

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“We still managed to play three out of four Grand Slams and the ATP Finals and some big Masters 1000 events like Cincinnati and Rome,” added Djokovic.