Family members fuel Nino’s dream

CHENNAI: In the Chennai Open Challenger men’s doubles competition at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here on Wednesday, Croatia’s Nino Serdarusic, in the company of Sebastian Ofner, booked a quarter-final ticket after recording a 7-5, 6-4 victory over the combination of Dimitar Kuzmanov and Hamad Medjedovic.

Speaking to DT Next about an hour after the conclusion of the first-round match, Nino stressed that he owes each and every win on Tour to his family members, who have sacrificed a lot to help him climb up the ladder. His elder brothers Tomislav and Filip, both past players, share the coaching duties depending on their availability.

“My brothers, they have been devoting a lot of time to me. I am grateful to them for giving me so much attention. There is a lot of hard work… financially as well since a young age. My parents (father Drago and mother Srdana), they just devoted half of their life,” said the 26-year-old Nino, who is ranked 253 in singles and 525 in doubles.

“My brothers gave up some part of their life so that I could become a good tennis player. Together, as a family, we have had results. I have played at all the Grand Slams (qualifiers), Davis Cup. We have made a good career together. My success is their success. I do not have anything on my own. It is all together. We will try to do more and more,” Nino added.

Nino said that he feels at home when being trained and accompanied by his brothers. “All my life, they have been monitoring me. For me, it is good. It is good to have a family member with you all the time and on the Tour (neither of them is with him in Chennai, but one will be with him for the upcoming challenger event in Bengaluru next week). We are away from home for a lot of weeks,” Nino went on to add.

“Filip is coaching me now, but I trained a lot under Tomislav in the past. Sometimes, I switch my coach (between the brothers) depending on who can come or cannot come with me. For a brief period, I had a different coach (from outside) but it is okay (fine). I feel that I am more relaxed when I am with my brothers. When you are with family members, you feel more connected. Everything feels, you know, alive let us say.”