Boost for Tokyo Olympics tennis event as Novak Djokovic ‘has confirmed his desire’ to compete

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Novak Djokovic 2021 French Open

World No 1 Novak Djokovic “has confirmed his desire” to compete at the Tokyo Olympics with the Serbian Tennis Federation revealing that his name is on the list of competitors.

The tennis tournament at this year’s Games has had some high-profile withdrawals in recent days with 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal as well as up and coming Canadian Denis Shapovalov announcing they won’t participate.

‘The goal is to prolong my career,’ says Rafael Nadal as he withdraws from Wimbledon and Tokyo Olympics

Djokovic, though, won’t follow suit as his country’s tennis association has all but confirmed he will be part of the Tokyo Olympics squad.

“Novak has confirmed his desire to participate in the Olympic Games and we have already sent a list with his name on it to the Olympic Committee of Serbia. It will be forwarded from there,” the tennis federation told Sportski Zurnal.

Djokovic, who won his 19th Grand Slam at the French Open a fortnight ago, admitted in May that although he was eager to compete in Tokyo he would reconsider his decision if no spectators are allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“If there’s not going to be any crowd, then I’ll consider if I want to go or not. Right now I am planning to go, and I’m very excited about that,” he said.

The Tokyo organising committee had announced earlier this week that Japanese spectators will be allowed to attend events, but they will be capped at up to 50% of a venue’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 people

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