Djokovic finally speaks on water bottle puzzle

Novak Djokovic didn’t answer all the questions people have about his water bottles – but he did address some

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 21, 2023 Serbia’s Novak Djokovic gets a drink during his third round match against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)

Sasa Ozmo

January 26, 2023

Novak Djokovic’s mysterious unlabelled water bottles have been the subject of much speculation in recent month – and in the Serbian part of his press conference following his win over Andrey Rublev in the Australian Open quarterfinals (6-1, 6-2, 6-4), he threw a little bit of light on what’s been going on.

The bottles belong to Austrian company Waterdrop, in whom the Serb has invested, and he described their link-up not as a sponsorship but a “long-term partnership”.

Djokovic added that the company’s end goal was an environmental one – for people not to use plastic at all.

“All the bottles I use here are Waterdrop’s,” he confirmed. “I thank the Australian Open because they allowed me to use them even though other companies sponsor the tournament, so that’s why you don’t see Waterdrop’s logo.

“Their bottles are huge, one litre and a half. I can barely carry them. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but other people carry that bag with those bottles for me. So every time the supervisor brings me the bottle, he says: ‘Here are your gold bars!'” he ended with a laugh.