Novak Djokovic continues to speak about after Eurosport wrongfully portrayed him with a video on social media asking why nobody from the ATP or the grand slams came to defend him.
A video posted by Eurosport showed Djokovic apparently defying the umpire after he told him that he can't go to the toilet. He was quick to correct them with a post on social media explaining what had really happened. The Serbian then followed up his comments in a press conference wondering why nobody defended him:
“Again, I have been placed in a situation where I have to react
publicly. For the second time in six months, I have a problem with
Eurosport. Eurosport have engaged a new company in London, that is
running their social media. I saw that it was someone new and they
confirmed it. I can’t remember the details of exactly what happened six months
ago, but at the time I said I will not be giving any interviews to
Eurosport. Subsequently they apologised to me, and everything was OK;
but here we are again where Eurosport is sensationalising something
which is completely taken out of context. "
He continued:
“After my reaction today and my social media posts, Eurosport deleted theirs, same as what they did with the last one. OK, I gave an interview to Barbara Schett, who apologised to me. Boris Becker also contacted me, Mats Wilander, they all work for Eurosport. I have nothing against them. I love Eurosport, I love sport in general – I have been watching skiing on Eurosport my whole life, but these situations…"
He then turned his attention towards the organisations:
“In our organisation – ATP or WTA – there has to be a system of
timely protection n of players, someone who will react, do something about
these things. I am an easy target to be the villain. That is how they
portray me, for me that is now a normal occurrence – but I will not
tolerate injustice. Some things I can tolerate, some I cannot – they do not deserve for
something like this to just be allowed, to get away with it. Usually I
don’t react, even though I could have reacted a thousand times over
different things in the past. Today they went completely overboard.
Nobody apologised to me publicly. Are they going to publicly apologise
to me? I don’t think so. Eurosport is broadcasting the
Australian Open,
they are one of the biggest sports channels in the world. They could
issue a public apology.”
And concluded with:
“Again, I am publicly asking a question: why didn’t the ATP or the Grand Slam come out and explain the situation, when they can see that the media are publicly lynching me? This has been happening continuously, there have been many situations like this one – but in the end nothing, it’s all the same. At the end of the day, if we are members of this Tour, surely there has to be some responsibility towards the players, some sort of protection. But no, ‘you do what you want and roast him as much as you want in media, while we remain silent."