Novak Djokovic

The competition at Wimbledon starts on Monday, and the matches of the first round, among others, will be played by five Serbian tennis players, including the defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Three-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic is playing against Soonwoo Kwon from South Korea in the first round.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal headline the title chase at Wimbledon where eight-time champion Roger Federer, the world's top two players as well as valuable ranking points will all be missing.

Djokovic is bidding for a seventh title at the All England Club to move level with U.S. great Pete Sampras.

World No. 1 easily defeated the Polish player Hubert Hurkacz on the central court of Madrid on Friday afternoon to advance to the semifinals. Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz defeated Dusan Lajovic in the eighth finals earlier in the day, so Novak avenged his Serbian colleague.

British tennis player defeated Denis Shapovalov in the second round match in three sets with the result 6:1, 3:6, 6:2. Marie will play against Djokovic for the 37th time, and currently the Serbian tennis player is leading 25:11 in head to head meetings.

This 250 series tournament is played from April 18 to 24, at the same time as the ATP 500 Tournament in Barcelona, however, it does not lag far behind in terms of quality. Belgrade has managed to attract some respectable names, so in addition to the world no.1, Novak Djokovic, Andrej Rublev, the eighth in the world, and Dominic Thiem, the winner of the US Open from 2020, will also perform.

Novak Djokovic made a successful return to the tour for the first time since his deportation from Australia, kicking off his 2022 campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti in Dubai on Feb. 21. 

International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia with few restrictions on Monday, bringing together families in tearful reunions after separations of two years or longer forced by some of the most draconian pandemic measures of any democracy in the world.

"If you have been vaccinated twice, we look forward to welcoming you to Australia," Morrison told a news conference in Canberra.

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said she never accused anyone of sexual assault, according to an interview published Monday, again walking back an allegation that sparked worldwide concern about her safety.

The former doubles world number one alleged in a social media post in November that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her into sex during a years-long relationship.

Australia will open its borders to all vaccinated tourists and business travelers from Feb. 21 in a further relaxation of pandemic restrictions announced Monday.

Australia imposed some of the world's toughest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 home.