Novak honestly about Srdjan after the scandal: They used my father, I'm not comfortable going through this

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who today in the semifinals of the "Australian Open" defeated Tommy Paul and reached the finals, spoke at the press conference after the match about the case of his father Srdjan Djokovic, who came into the public eye after he was filmed standing while taking pictures with fans from Russia, and foreign media reported that he said "Long live Russia", which he denied and stated that he said "Cheers" and then walked away.

"Like everyone else, I saw what happened. It was unfortunate, what happened was poorly interpreted, so it escalated. We had many conversations with the tournament organizers, the media. I wasn't aware of it until last night, I wasn't happy to see it," Djokovic said, as reported by Nova.rs.

He said that his father and the whole family had gone through several wars during the 90s and he knew how devastating wars were.

"My father went after every match to greet the fans, to thank them for their support, to pay respects to them and to take pictures. Regarding the picture he took, I heard what he said in the media, he said "cheers", and that was poorly presented by the foreign media. I'm sorry that it escalated, but he had no intention of supporting the war or any initiative. There were many Serbian flags, he thought he was taking a picture with someone from Serbia. I'm not comfortable going through everything I've been going through these two years in Australia," said Djokovic.

His father was not in the box during the semi-finals, and Novak says he missed him.

"It was not pleasant that he was not in the box, but it was a mutual decision. We'll see how things develop, then we'll see if he'll be in the finals. He would certainly like to be in the box, but we'll see," Djokovic added.

When asked if Srđan had an intention, he repeated:

"I already explained myself and he explained, there was no intention. Now you ask me if he did it on purpose and if he was worried about what he was doing... It could have happened to many people, he was passing by and they asked him to take a picture, he was used in this situation. It's not his fault, and he went out to celebrate with the fans, he felt bad, because he knew how it would affect me... That's how it is, accept it," said the Serbian tennis player.

He also told how he feels now because of his deportation from Australia last year.

"I got over what happened last year. My intentions in Australia were always positive, I wanted to come back. The return this year was different. I don't have any prejudices, I like to play here, to be here, it allows me to be good. I haven't lost a match in five weeks in Australia and I'm glad to be here," said Djokovic, who will play against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals.