Songs from home greets Bosnian on a foreign court

The shouts of delight on Court 13 at the Australian Open were never louder Wednesday than when an old man began to play his accordion.

The notes, an unlikely soundtrack to Grand Slam tennis, were soon accompanied by the full-throated singing of Bosnian folk songs, with roughly 50 fans in blue and yellow participating, swaying with their arms around one another and waving flags.

Damir Dzumhur (pronounced DAH-meer JOOM-hoor), a 21-year-old from Sarajevo, wanted to sing along with them. But he had a match to finish.

"I know the words of all the songs, I know, but I just couldn't sing in a match," he said. "I would like to sing with them, you know? Inside myself, I was singing."

Dzumhur lost the first two sets of his second-round match against the No. 32 seed Ivan Dodig and then won the third. Dodig received treatment for back pain before the fourth set and then began having cramps in his right leg early in the set.

Dodig forfeited the next six points so he could receive treatment, which is allowed only during changeovers. When play resumed, he could not move, leaving Dzumhur to hit easy aces and uncontested return winners before Dodig retired eight points later.

The mass of Bosnian fans pressed forward to the edge of the court, singing and chanting Dzumhur's name. After greeting and high-fiving the fans, Dzumhur crossed to the other side of the court to reach his father and coach, Nerfid Dzumhur, who wiped away tears as he leaned over the fence to hug his son.

"I saw that Ivan Dodig retired - in that moment I was just too emotional," said Nerfid Dzumhur, who spoke in Bosnian that was interpreted by his son. "I couldn't stop. I was crying a lot, and I couldn't stop. I also couldn't believe that he's in the third round."

The joy was understandable, considering the discord and violence Damir Dzumhur was born into just over two decades ago. He was born in Sarajevo in May 1992, a month after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina began.

"The hospital that he was in was evacuated just one day after he was born," Nerfid Dzumhur said. "So my brother came to Damir and his mother and took him when he was born, back to my brother's home."

Nerfid Dzumhur was stranded in Konjic, about 30 miles away, and did not see Damir, his first child, until the boy was 8 months old.

"I wasn't thinking about leaving Bosnia - I was just thinking about seeing Damir in the first couple of months," Nerfid Dzumhur said. "That was the most important thing, just how to come to Sarajevo. Because it was really dangerous."

Shortly after he returned to Sarajevo, Nerfid Dzumhur and another tennis coach started a club there, braving the threat of death that was a fact of life at that time.

"As Sarajevo is in a valley, all around, on the hills, on the mountains, there were dangers, snipers, and everything which could kill you," he said. "I wasn't thinking too much about that. I just  wanted to do the job and hope that everything would be OK."

Mindful of those threats, Nerfid Dzumhur would not allow children to play on the exposed courts.

"In the first couple years, we just couldn't have a school of tennis," he said. "We were coaching the players, but just not the small kids. It was just too dangerous, too dangerous to be that long on the court."

But when the conflict began to recede, it became safe enough for the children to play, including 3-year-old Damir.

"I just loved the sport," he said of his early years at the club. "Nobody pushed me into that. It was a big love, and definitely I'm really happy now that I started with tennis, because it's a beautiful sport."

Dzumhur, a speedy 5-foot-9 blur of a counterpuncher who had been ranked as high as third in the world as a junior, won three qualifying matches before the Open to become the first man representing Bosnia and Herzegovina to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam. Now, after winning two matches in the main draw, Dzumhur, ranked 188th, is set to jump more than 40 spots.

The improvement in the rankings will be accompanied by a sizable paycheck. That is welcome news for a player whose wallet has been stretched thin while he has played the lower levels of the professional game. Dzumhur, who had earned only $93,796 in prize money in his career before this tournament, will pocket $75,000 for reaching the third round, where he will face No. 7 Tomas Berdych on Friday for a chance to reach the fourth round and take home an additional $60,000.

Dzumhur said the fans who greeted him after the match promised to come in even larger numbers Friday.

"Now they told me on Friday it will be even better," he said. "I don't know if they can be better than this, but for me they are definitely the best, and I think they are the loudest in Melbourne Park."

It was a welcome Dzumhur had not expected.

"Really, I'm playing Australian Open, and I feel like I'm playing some Bosnian Open," he said.

That Melbourne offered a bastion of support was not surprising. The 2011 Australian census showed that more than 9,000 residents of Victoria State, of which Melbourne is the capital, were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But Bosnian fans have often been less appreciated by other players. That includes Dodig, an ethnic Croat who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, less than 10 miles from the Croatian border. He took particular issue with cheers that consistently erupted after he missed first serves and when he was called for foot faults.

"I think this was not a tennis atmosphere," he said. "These people came on the wrong site. They should be at a soccer match or somewhere, because probably they know nothing about tennis."

Wednesday's match, however, ended peacefully. The scattered fans wearing the red-and-white checkers of the Croatian crest who had cheered for Dodig mingled peacefully with the Bosnians, who appreciatively chanted Dodig's name as he limped off.

 

© 2014 New York Times News Service