Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open tournament, revealed that Novak Djokovic’s list of requests was a leak from the WhatsApp message the Serbian sent him. After 72 players were placed in strict quarantine ahead of the Australian Open, Djokovic wanted to help other players.
After Djokovic’s message to Tiley went public, the world number one started to receive a lot of criticism. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said people were free to submit their list of demands but stressed that “no” would be the answer for everyone.
“Behind the scenes, he texted me WhatsApp while they were in Adelaide for their quarantine program,” Tiley explained on 3AW Sportsday, as revealed on Tennisbuzz.
“He had a bunch of suggestions to try and help the 72 athletes who were in quarantine isolated here.
“It turned out that someone from his own team or someone from ATP leaked this and it appears he sent a list of requests which was probably an unfair criticism of him as we had an open dialogue “
Tiley has a good relationship with Novak Djokovic
Djokovic, who now has 18 Grand Slam titles in his collection, inflicted a direct defeat on world number three Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final to win a record-breaking ninth title at Melbourne Park.
“Behind the scenes my conversations with him have always been very good,” Tiley added. “I have to admit this year I found him the best he has ever been, even though it was a stressful time and he took a lot of hits and criticism from people.
“I think in a lot of ways Novak Djokovic is just trying to help others and sometimes he doesn’t know when to do it. At the end of the day he’s a remarkable athlete.”
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