Russia-Ukraine War: Novak Djokovic, worried about Sergiy Stakhovsky, who enlisted in the army, offers him help

the ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, 36 years old and 31st in the ranking in September 2010, he joined his country’s troops fighting the Russian army. While sheltering in a trench in the city of Kiev, he said that the Serb Novak Djokovic (current 2nd of the circuit) writes to him permanently and that He offered all kinds of collaboration.

Stako, how are you? Are you in the field? Think about you. I hope everything calms down soon. Please tell me the best address where I can send help, both financial and otherwise”are the WhatsApp messages that the winner of 20 Grand Slam trophies sent to Stakhovsky and that he decided to make public.

Djokovic knows what war is. Nole grew up in a hostile environment, in the Belgrade of the former Yugoslavia, while bombs from NATO forces spilled blood and shook the earth.

“We woke up two or three times every night because of the shelling. We lived in the basement of my grandfather’s house, together with my parents, my uncles and my brothers” during the months that the conflict lasted, Nole recounted in an interview with CBS. “He did not go to school, and he took the opportunity to play tennis in the mornings, when they were not bombing,” she expanded, at the time.

A few years ago, Djokovic returned to the fronton where he took his first steps in tennis, destroyed by bombs and bullets. “Memories… The wall where I hit my first tennis balls with Jelena Gencic. Destroyed by bombs but still there,” she wrote on her social media.

Stakhovsky, professional since 2003, he played his last match last January, in the Australian Open qualifier. He lost in the first round to American JJ Wolf 6-3, 6-4. During his career he won four singles titles (Zagreb 2008, Saint Petersburg 2009, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and New Haven 2010) and was a member of the Player Council.

His most resounding victory was against Roger Federer, in the second round of Wimbledon 2013. Being 116th in the world, he eliminated the Swiss and then 2nd, by beating him 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 and 7-6 (7-5) . “I can tell my grandchildren that I kicked Federer’s ass at Wimbledon,” he said.

In 2020, Stakhovsky revealed that in 2009 he was offered $100,000 to win the Australian Open first round match against France’s Arnaud Clement and turned it down, only to lose in five sets. “When I left the court, I think I would have hit my racket against those who offered me the money if they had been there,” said the Ukrainian.

In April 2019, Stakhovsky also had an unfortunate comment about the man from Santiago Marco Trungelliti, who in February of that same year confessed, in LA NACIÓN, the distressing situation he was going through after rejecting and denouncing a bribery attempt, which led to the suspension of three compatriots. It all stemmed from a message of support for Trungelliti from renowned Australian coach Darren Cahill. But Stakhovsky, then a Player Council member, tweeted at Cahill: “The fine line between whistleblower and snitch, it all depends on who the judge is.”

Stakhovsky’s words did not go unnoticed: Cahill reacted and, obviously, Trungelliti too. “Really? Is this the support a player receives from a player council member after making a report? Clearly this is the reason why there are no whistleblowers and corruption has free access to the highway,” Trungelliti posted.

A few hours after his unfortunate comment, Stakhovsky wrote to the Argentine on Instagram: “First of all I apologize for that reaction. I changed my words. I reacted with little information and I shouldn’t have done that.”