"Last time I was here I won the tournament" - Djokovic ahead of Erste Bank Open in Vienna

Novak Djokovic is one of the participants of the 2020 Erste Bank Open Vienna as the Serbian spoke about the tournament and his memories from Vienna.

The 33-years-old Serbian played the last time in Vienna back in 2007 when he defeated Stan Wawrinka in the final to lift the trophy. Now, after 13 years, he will be joining probably the strongest field of the ATP 500 event ever. Djokovic received a wild-card and in the first round, he will be playing his fellow countryman, Filip Krajinovic.

“You have six out of the Top 10 players playing here at an ATP 500 event,” Djokovic said. “I think this must be if not the hardest or toughest men’s draw of all-time at a 500-category event, then definitely one of the hardest ones that we have ever seen, that I was ever part of. So the quality of matches from the first round will be very, very high.”

“It’s great to be here. I have some amazing memories from this city. I haven’t been to Vienna and I haven’t participated in the tournament here for 13 years. The last time I was here I won the tournament and I had great support,” Djokovic said. “This is definitely one of the best tournaments in this category.”

“Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and a city that is part of a country that nurtures sports and specifically tennis traditionally,” Djokovic said. “The big credit for that goes to Thomas Muster of course, who was No. 1 in the world, and Dominic Thiem, a Grand Slam champion and other successful Austrian players contributed I think to the popularity of the sport. It’s one of the big reasons why you see every year a packed house that is sold out for Dominic’s matches especially, but also for other matches.”

“We had a practise this morning and we were so intense that I was thinking we were already playing the final,” Djokovic said. “I respect Dominic so much and what he has done for tennis is tremendous, especially this year obviously winning his first Grand Slam. He deserves it more than anybody else. He’s a hard worker, a great guy with a great team. Hopefully we can have that chance to play.

“Obviously that’s probably something that the people would want to see here… [but] it’s a long way [away]. Even though that’s something that we are all anticipating, we both want that, to be in the final of course. But the field is very strong, so we have to take one day at a time.”