“People remember me after the Olympics as the girl who played doubles with Novak Djokovic” – Nina Stojanovic. Getting the chance to represent the nation together with world No.1 is a dream come true for some, but it was a reality for the youngster from Belgrade. In the Tokyo Olympics 2020, both of them started well but were defeated by the ROC pair, Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev in the SF. Later on, Novak Djokovic had to withdraw from the bronze-medal playoff due to a shoulder injury. At that time, the tennis fraternity expressed their sympathy for Stojanovic, who was prevented from taking the court in one of the biggest matches of her career. And now, she reveals the other side of the story!

In 2021, Nina Stojanovic spoke for the first time about what happened at the Tokyo Olympics. She took to Instagram to express her disappointment in missing the chance to play “the most important match” of her career. A mixed doubles medal perhaps doesn’t mean much to Novak Djokovic but his lower-ranked partner could’ve had a life-changing moment from it. Reflecting on what she had to go through after that event, Stojanovic recently gave an interview in which she said, “It’s hard for me.“

She revealed this is the first time she is talking to someone about it publicly and she didn’t want to make a statement. Stojanovic revealed she had been contacted by several renowned media houses after the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and even the fans came out in numbers to reach out to her. “I was very pleasantly surprised after participating in how many positive messages I received from the audience. A message in the sense of ‘Nina, you are to blame for Novak’s failure, you tired him out’, I read various things afterwards, nonsense really…” she revealed. There was a mix of good and bad reactions surrounding that incident.

During the conversation on the ‘Racketing‘ podcast, she further added that she was quite “moved” by those reactions. She said, “It was much harder for me, in a way I preferred it because, for the first time, I felt that people were with me for the first time because of tennis. They’re not of any use or, I can’t explain it.” The 27-year-old tennis star has struggled with injuries and lack of form ever since that breakout chance in Tokyo. The player who once featured in the top 100 now ranks 741 in the women’s singles ranking.

However, recently she clinched a title in Prokuplje. Nina Stojanovic became a pro tennis player in 2014 and so far she has won 10 ITF titles but has she successfully managed to create her own identity? “People remember me after the Olympics as the girl who played doubles with Novak, because of whom Novak gave up fighting for a medal,” said Stojanovic. Her emphatic triumph in Prokuplje made her realize that Novak Djokovic still keeps tabs on her career. She feels it to be “very nice of him” but then there are a few things that she believes she won’t forget. What were Djokovic’s initial thoughts on his mixed doubles partner?

“…we clicked from the beginning” – Novak Djokovic speaks on Nina Stojanovic

At that time, Novak Djokovic was on the verge of becoming the first man to achieve the Golden Slam. He just needed to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open title at the singles event. So, Djokovic taking part in the mixed doubles was a surprise to someone like Viktor Troicki, Serbia’s Olympic team coach. He revealed, “I was against it. The whole team was against it. It was just him. He wanted to play.” Djokovic had already played quite a few matches that season, so people were wondering what made him take up this challenge.

However, Nole himself was pretty much pleased with his mixed doubles partner. He said, “We did not chat about the tactics too much, we know each other. But we’ve never really played on the opposite ends of the net, or the same side of the net. So, it was amazing how well we clicked from the beginning.“

Though Djokovic’s injury may have seemed justified in his own eyes, it affected his doubles partner, who hoped for a different result and perhaps even a medal. The event demonstrated the potential danger to a doubles partner as well as the intensity that might result from playing with a lower-ranked partner. Share what are your thoughts on this.