Overview
- Tournament organizers played a memorial video on the big screen after Djokovic’s second-round win at the ATP 250 Hellenic Championship in Athens.
- Djokovic defeated Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(3), 6-1 before becoming visibly emotional during the on-court tribute.
- He said the moment was deeply personal and pledged, “As long as I play tennis and as long as I live, I’ll celebrate his name.”
- Djokovic joined Pilic’s academy in Germany at age 12 and credits him with a fundamental role in his development as a player and person.
- Pilic, a 1973 French Open runner-up who later captained Germany to three Davis Cup titles, died in September at 86.