World No. 1 Novak Djokovic broke down in tears in front of 4,000 fans at his own tennis tournament after missing out on a spot in the final on Sunday.
The Serbian needed a straight sets victory over Alexander Zverev in his last group game to reach the final against Austrian Dominic Thiem.
However, the 33-year-old took three sets to get past the German, winning 4-0, 1-4, 4-2, meaning Filip Krajnovic made the final.
Thiem went on to beat Krajinovic 4-3, 2-4, 4-2 in the final.
“I am not crying because I got knocked out of the tournament, I am just overwhelmed by emotion because this reminds me of my childhood,” Djokovic told the crowd.
“It’s been an emotional few days and I want to thank everyone who made this possible. The important thing after this match is that we have one of our own in the final. I love you all and thank you so much for turning up.”
The tournament, held Belgrade, is the first leg of the charity event called The Adria Tour, with the second leg taking place in Croatia’s coastal resort Zadar next weekend.
The third leg due in Montenegro on June 27-28 has been cancelled over coronavirus concerns while the final leg is to be staged in Banja Luka on July 3 and 4.
With sets reduced to best of seven games, players were divided into two pools on a round-robin basis and Djokovic’s win over Zverev meant that the two and Krajinovic all finished with a 2-1 win-loss record and an identical 5-3 set difference
