Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates at the end of his men’s singles semi-final tennis match between Croatia and Serbia of the Davis Cup tennis tournament at the Madrid arena in Madrid on December 3, 2021. (AFP)
BELGRADE, Serbia – Tennis’ world number one Novak Djokovic said Friday that the Serbia national postal service has honored him by launching a series of stamps featuring him and his sports achievements.
I’m humbled!” Djokovic said on Twitter.
“An honor to receive my very own Serbian stamp. Thank you to my generous country for this rare gift!”
The Post of Serbia presented the stamps titled “Tennis: Novak Djokovic, the world racket number one” at an event attended by the 34-year-old star on Thursday.
It said it was the first time it had put an athlete on a stamp.
“The stamps represent an athlete… the best tennis player of today and the best athlete in the history of Serbian sports,” a Serbia Post statement said.
Djokovic is also a “great humanist and philanthropist” it said, referencing his education foundation that it said “helped reconstruct 48 kindergartens and supported more than 2,200 teachers in their work throughout Serbia”.
The stamps feature Djokovic and his sports achievements — notably 350 weeks as world number one, 20 Grand Slam titles as well as 37 titles at the ATP Masters tournaments.
Earlier this month, Djokovic was named among the entries for the Australian Open, following intense speculation about his vaccination status.
The Serbian had cast doubt on whether he would defend his Melbourne title next month, refusing to reveal whether he was inoculated against coronavirus, a requirement to play.