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Eldin, told Sportal how Novak Đoković helped his son and revealed previously unknown details of the conversation with…
Eldin, told Sportal how Novak Đoković helped his son and revealed previously unknown details of the conversation with former World No. 1
Hamad Međedović is our most promising player. Tennis experts say that he is Novak Djokovic’s successor. Not even a full month has passed since he won the challenger in the German city of Ludenscheid. And how he won it: he reached the cup from the qualifiers, lost only a set, and on the way to the title he defeated tennis players who were ranked much better than him.
READ MORE: WE HAVEN’T SEEN HIM LIKE THIS FOR A LONG TIME: Nole jumped to Croatia, surprised fans with a NEW IMAGE
Međedović is a member of the Novak Tennis Academy, and his coach is Ilija Bozoljac. With the 19-year-old tennis player born in Novi Pazar, while in Belgrade, Viktor Troicki, the head coach at Novak’s academy, also sparred.
The lines before you are told from the point of view of Hamad’s father, Eldin, who revealed to Sportal how the collaboration with Novak Djokovic came about. This story confirmed what we knew: that Nole, more than a great athlete, is an extraordinary human being.
We are lucky that we ended up with Novak, thank God – Eldin Međedović, Hamad’s father, began the story for Sportal.
Then he continued:
– Novak is really trying hard for Hamad. In all ways: financially, mentally and socially. I remember another conversation with Novak. Then we specifically talked about the steps in Hamad’s career. And here, I’ll tell you honestly, I pinched myself during that conversation to convince myself that all this was happening. He was giving me ideas, what to do about Hamad, and I remember saying to him: “Nole, I’m sorry, but it all costs money!” He continues, suggests me a coach, talks about how we will do, what we will do and adds: “It’s up to Hamad to train, I’ll do the rest!” I tell him again: “Nole, it costs money!”
Eldin, told Sportal how Novak Đoković helped his son and revealed previously unknown details of the conversation with…
Eldin Međedović stopped just to take a breath:
– Then Novak told me: “Edo, I’m not doing this for money! I have a place to earn money. Simply, my role and my task is to help. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t help children who deserve it, who love tennis, still getting results, helped?” I listen to him, and he adds: “You know what we’re going to do? Tomorrow, when Hamad succeeds, you’ll also take someone whom you’ll help!”
Međedović repeated:
– I continued to pinch myself, and then I said to myself: “Hello, stop, take it easy!” That was the first time someone in the sport had said that to me. All this was a pleasant surprise for me. And suddenly… Someone becomes so close to you that you feel that you want them more than yourself because of that gesture.
Nola did not keep his promise only in words, but immediately moved into action:
– During the whole year 2021, we did not pay a dinar for all the coaches, complete trips, hotels, plane tickets, physiotherapists, masseurs, preparations that they went to together . And that’s not a small amount of money in the world of tennis. That’s a really big sum. One coach costs a lot, so where are the fitness coach, physiotherapist, courts… Imagine, the best in the world calls my child to go to training together. Imagine that! It would be like Ronaldo or Messi calling you and saying: “Let’s play football!” or “Call me if you need anything!” These things seem a bit foreign in today’s time, but thank God there are people for whom money is not everything, but humanity.
Eldin, told Sportal how Novak Đoković helped his son and revealed previously unknown details of the conversation with…
We asked dad how Hamad felt when Nole would invite him to the preparations, if he had any nervousness…
– Did all that put a little pressure on him. Well, the best in the world is calling you. He was a little nervous about Nolet. However, even there, thank God, Novak knew how to approach him. I was present when Novak came and said to him: “Where are you Medo? Where are you Hame?” so she hugs him and calls him to play a game of basketball. Novak contributed a lot to Hamad’s relaxation. When they were together on preparations in Montenegro and we talk on the phone and I ask him: “Son, how is it going with Nolet?” Hamad says everything is great, so I ask him: “Are you asking him for some advice?” and he says: “I don’t build a relationship with him like that, only a friendly one because he treats me like a friend, so I would like to be his friend too.”
On the same day that Međedović won the challenger in Germany, Djokovic played in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Hamad also revealed to Sportal that Nole was among the first to congratulate him on his success. Hamad’s father adds:
– Watch out for that, he is a champion, he plays such an important tournament and he finds time to be interested in other things. He found out that Hamad won the tournament and just before the match he found time to send a message of support. All these things say a lot about Novak Djokovic.
Hamad has the privilege of training and growing up with the best tennis players that Serbia has. That’s why Eldin highlighted two in particular – Viktor Troicki and Ilija Bozoljac.
READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz issued ‘big word’ warning about Rafael Nadal as…
– Viktor came to work at the Academy after his playing career and I can often say that if it wasn’t for Viktor, Hamad would have left! He brought in a lot. All of them were serious even before Troicki came, but he introduced a dose of professionalism because he went through it all, he knows everything, so you could feel the change on the field! And Ilija Bozoljac? What can I say about him? A positive man full of positive energy, a man who really wants Hamada a lot. At some moments I can say to him: “Iko, you want Hamad to succeed more than he wants himself!” Ika is an emotional person. Everything that was given to him as a gift, he passes on to Hamad, and he has succeeded a lot in that – Eldin Međedović finished the interview for Sportal.
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Max Verstappen has once again claimed that he is the target of ‘British bias’ in the media after watching the fallout from his battle with Lando Norris. The three-time world champion’s defending was criticised by a number of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen and Norris shared a titanic battle at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, but the flashpoint came at Turn 12 as the Dutchman deployed a signature tactic, lunging deep into the corner to get to the apex first before running both himself and his title rival off the road.
Norris opted to keep his foot in and overtook the Red Bull driver around the outside, although this decision landed him a five-second time penalty that dropped him back behind Verstappen in the general classification. This sparked a major debate with other drivers – Hamilton included – calling for the FIA to take action and outlaw this style of defending.
Verstappen has been frustrated by this debate. Quizzed by Viaplay in Mexico on whether he’d like to see the rules changed, he replied: “No, not really. But I have the wrong passport.” Asked if he was referring to a British passport, he confirmed as much.
“Yeah, it’s the wrong country, on that aspect… with complaining” he replied. “I love my passport but on that aspect, I should have had a different passport, actually.” The Dutchman also complained of ‘British bias’ earlier this season following comments made by Adrian Newey.
When asked about the debate surrounding Verstappen’s on-track conduct, former title rival Hamilton was quick to point out that the Dutchman has been employing these tactics for some time, dating back to their no-punches-pulled fight in 2021.
“It’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton explained ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix. “They probably need to make some adjustments for sure.
“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which years it is. I mean, as a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.
“I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”
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$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon teamed up with Chase Elliott and other HMS drivers in a lighthearted fun exercise for fans where they attempted to solve the mystery behind an old tweet from their current driver.
The anonymous tweet reads, “Don’t judge me, but I can’t wait to see the new twilight movie haha,” and it’s believed to belong to one of the HMS’s driver lineups, which includes Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Jeff Gordan, who has a net worth of $200 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth), and HMS drivers tried to guess, but none of them were correct. Bowman and Elliott named Byron, while Byron went with Elliott, but it was Larson. He accepted that it was his tweet in 2011 and revealed that he likes Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight movie.
HMS shared the video of the fun investigative activity on Instagram with a caption:
“Hold on tight, spider monkey”
Watch the Jeff Gordon and HMS’s guesses below:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBjQ7EzP3A7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e5182e01-3688-440a-ae00-0bf669973e15&ig_mid=01331E07-1F15-4C86-B3DB-7587302F0125
Three out of four HMS drivers are still in contention for the 2024 NASCAR Cup championship. Larson and Byron are in good position in the playoffs points table, with 35 and 27 points above the cutline.
However, 2020 Cup champion Elliott is in danger of getting eliminated from title contention, as he’s 53 points behind the cutline heading to this weekend’s Homestead-Miami race.
In an interview with NBC Sports earlier this season, Jeff Gordon spoke about the competition between their two best drivers, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, for the regular season championship. Gordan wanted to see both top drivers perform well and race aggressively against each other while maintaining sportsmanship in their chase for the regular season title.
However, neither Larson nor Elliott won the championship; it was Tyler Reddick who clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship. Speaking to NBC Sports, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon said:
“I think it’s pretty clear at Hendrick how we expect teams and drivers to race against one another and how they’ve got to go and compete not only against their competitors but against one another.
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“Kyle Busch is an a**”: Brad Keselowski publicly chastised his fierce NASCAR rival in front of over 150,000 spectators
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski birthed one of the fiercest rivalries in NASCAR. The duo had multiple run-ins throughout their careers, but the seed of their feud was sown at the 2010 Xfinity Series race hosted by the Bristol Motor Speedway. In the aftermath, Keselowski publicly castigated Busch in front of over 150,000 fans during driver introductions.
Busch kicked off his Food City 250 from third place in his #18 Toyota while Keselowski began in 13th. However, as the 250-lap battle inched closer to its conclusion, the then-Penske Racing driver held the domination while the former #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver fought hard for the lead.
After struggling to overtake for nearly a dozen laps, Busch, with 31 laps until the checkered flag dropped, lunged ahead of Keselowski, only to be wrecked from behind and lose the spot again.
However, the JGR driver quickly retaliated and spun out Keselowski’s #22 Dodge. The move propelled the #18 Toyota to the victory lane while the Penske driver fell from a potential win to settling in 14th place.
The bitter feeling inside Brad Keselowski surfaced during the Bristol Cup Series race driver introductions the following day. After Kyle Busch introduced himself, his fierce rival took the mic and blasted Busch with his “a**’ comment.
“Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing Dodge. Kyle Busch is an a**,” he said.
However, when asked why he slammed Busch, Keselowski said that Juan Pablo Montoya challenged that he can’t call the JGR driver an “a**”. It’s worth mentioning that the crowd’s roar on the Penske driver’s introduction notched 104.2 decibels.
“Sometimes you just don’t like a guy”: Kyle Busch publicly slams Brad Keselowski during their 2017 title fight
The bitter rivalry between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski was such that both made unapologetic comments about the other from time to time. Despite the latter publicly extending an olive branch to the former in 2015, their relationship remained sour.
Max Verstappen addresses ‘British bias’ at Mexican GP after Lewis Hamilton put-down
$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
