Tennis has been a soothing balm for quite a few of the Balkan States following the disorder and chaos of Yugoslavia’s break-up. One of the most traumatic events was the Bosnian War that erupted in early 1992.
Even as the other Balkan countries slowly started producing competitive tennis players, Bosnia and Herzegovina had to wait a while to find its own star.
Then, Damir Dzumhur came along.
The 24-year-old was born one month into the Bosnian War, in a hospital near the Zetra Olympic Hall that was destroyed in the course of the hostilities and had to be rebuilt.
And it was at this venue that Dzumhur took to tennis, going on to become the first player from his young country to be a part of the main draw at a Grand Slam, at the Australian Open in 2014. He is now World No. 77.
Dzumhur says his generation has outgrown the grim times.
“It is 20 years since the war finished. I was really young so don’t remember a lot. I think we have to look forward and not think about it,” he says.
Dzumhur has even moved to Belgrade for the training facilities despite the fact that Serbia and Bosnia were bitter adversaries during the war.
“I now live in Belgrade; I don't see people in any other way. I just see how people are now,” he says. “What happened was bad, but it is in the past.”
Dzumhur says Novak Djokovic has had a huge influence on the players in the region, and he has personally benefited from his interactions with the Serb.
“Djokovic has so many things to say about tennis; and he’s the one who is pushing the players from the Balkans. It was one country before and people are always close,” he says.
Elaborating on his decision to move to the Serbian capital, Dzumhur says: “Tennis is getting bigger in Bosnia because we now have two players (the other is Mirza Basic) in top-150. It is popular, but not many kids want to be a pro, and there are not too many good coaches or facilities. Without that it is tough to make good players.”
Dzumhur did have career options.
“Well, we had some audition in school since I did not have many tournaments. I got selected for one movie!” he says. “It was real fun, but not a big deal for me. I had two more offers, but by then I’d started with Futures tournaments and couldn’t do both at the same time.”
Though the support from the system in his own case has been negligible, Dzumhur says he has hope that things will change and the next generation will benefit from his success.
