Novak Djokovic emotional after airport mix-up as tennis star left 'sad'

Novak Djokovic has been swarmed by devoted supporters once more after touching down in China for the Shanghai Masters. The Serbian jetted into Asia earlier this week before taking part in the tournament.

He was paired against Marin Cilic in the round of 64 and narrowly edged past the Croatian to set up a second-round encounter with Yannick Hanfmann. However, before kicking off his campaign, Djokovic managed to connect with a group of thrilled supporters.

He posted footage of himself greeting fans, who were enthusiastically shouting his name. Djokovic managed to acknowledge the crowd with a wave and sent them a kiss.

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The warm reception was vastly different from his troubles 12 months earlier. Another massive crowd of supporters had journeyed to the airport to greet Djokovic only for him to be led out through a separate exit.

Addressing the incident, he said: "I am in China after five years and I miss you. I'm so sorry, really sorry that we didn't meet at the airport yesterday.

"I was sad when I found out, I didn't know you were there. They took me to another exit. I hope to see many of you in Beijing or Shanghai soon. I'm excited to be in China, mostly because of you who have been following me for years. I love you, I love you all."

Whilst he values the backing of supporters, Djokovic treasures his family's encouragement above all else.

Speaking in Shanghai, he has disclosed that his son was eager to accompany him to Shanghai but couldn't make the trip. Djokovic said: "Well my son, he plays tennis more and so he follows what's going on. He was really insisting on traveling with me to China.

"He wants to travel with me everywhere, but he has to do school, and it's not that simple. But he's really in love with tennis and the sport.

"My kids and my wife are, you know, my biggest supporters, and obviously when they are in the stadium you've seen them, how they support, how passionately they care about and play with me every single point.

"So, of course, me seeing them on the stands, you know, it's even more inspirational. I love to have them. But at the same time, you know, the kids cannot live daddy's life, they have to live their own life.

"I try to support them and be there for them. Whether they feel like I have, yeah, they believe in me. They feel like, you know, they look at me as the best always.

"And so they, when I'm kind of down on myself, they remind me of the things that I have accomplished and why they still believe that I can do it. So their support is very meaningful to me."

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