NOVAK DJOKOVIC has revealed he is still haunted by growing up in war-torn Serbia.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion has enjoyed an illustrious career over the last 21 years.

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He grew up in Serbia during the Yugoslav wars, with his homeland bombed by NATO – an experience Djokovic can never forget.

In an interview with La Nacion, he said: “It’s the fear of the unknown. Not knowing if the next bomb is going to hit your head.

“And so it was every day, the alarms, the sirens that woke us up every night when the planes were approaching.

“When I see these wars and everything that is happening… I lived through the war, my city was bombed day and night for two and a half months.

“It’s a horror. The worst thing anyone can experience. It’s the fear of the unknown.

“I saw dead people and now that I see wars in other parts of the world, I don’t understand.”

Djokovic, 37, also spoke about how the war helped him grow up fast, as his dad gave him responsibilities which included looking out for his brothers.

He continued: “I want to make it very clear – I don’t think anyone should suffer through war to develop mental strength, there are other ways to do it.

“For me, it was a very important part of my development and as a small child, I was forced to grow up. I had to take responsibility and share my father’s role because I was the eldest son and there was no time.

“My father spoke to me as an adult: ‘You have to do this, take your brothers there, go here.’ It was war.”

Larne qualified for the league phase of this competition thanks to a dramatic run through the qualifiers that saw them beat Ballkani on penalties before Andy Ryan’s hat-trick edged Lincoln Red Imps in a thrilling second leg.

The County Antrim side, who lost 3-0 to Molde in their opener last month, had league fixtures postponed during the period and are now working through the fixture backlog.

Saturday’s draw with Crusaders meant the side have won just four of nine domestic fixtures this season.

Meanwhile, thanks to the League of Ireland’s status as a summer league, Shamrock Rovers are embroiled in a tense conclusion to another title race, sat third with a pair of games to play but just two points behind leaders Shelbourne.

“It’s an experience we have to enjoy, have to embrace,” added Lynch.

“But also we have to make sure that the domestic league is our bread and butter. We know that from the 22 December, the Europa stuff is over and we can concentrate fully on our domestic league.

“There’s lots of things going on that we have to keep an eye on but we know what we want to do, we have a gameplan. Whether that works over the course of seven or eight months, I don’t know, but it’s something we’ve been working towards.”

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IT would be wrong to say Britain’s 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls has mellowed as he enters his 34th season.

He’s been at this game a long time, but the competitive edge is still deeply engrained in him — and always will be.

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But Nicholls, 62, is philosophical about losing his trainers’ crown for the first time in four years — with both Willie Mullins and his ‘apprentice’ Dan Skelton leapfrogging him in the standings in 2023-24.

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In large part, it hasn’t affected Nicholls as much as it maybe would have in the past because of the difficulties he and his team faced off the track during the last jumps campaign.

Not only did Nicholls have to come to terms with the passing of his landlord, long-time mentor and great friend Paul Barber.

But the Ditcheat yard was left devastated by the death of stable lad Keagan Kirkby, 25, who was tragically killed after a fall at a point-to-point in February.

Nicholls said: “It was a hard year — as hard a year as we’ve ever had off the track.

“Paul was a mentor to me, I’d speak to him virtually every day and he was the one who helped me break through at the start of my career.

“Then Keagan had his accident and that was very tough for all of us. It was difficult for the whole team to lose one of their mates far too young.

“It hit us hard and when you have to go through things like that it does put results on the track and the trainers championship into perspective.

“You know me, I want to win and compete at everything I do, but real life matters far more.”

Still, it was an unusual position that Nicholls found himself in at Sandown on April 27.

He had to watch on from afar as Mullins collected the championship trophy on the final day of the jumps season, becoming the first Irish-based trainer to win Britain’s title in 70 years.

And Nicholls starts the new season as the 3-1 outsider of ‘the big three’ to win the crown for a record-equalling 15th time.

He said: “You have to take defeat on the chin. In football the same team doesn’t win the league every year.

“Everything went right for Willie, he will admit that himself, he got the bounce of the ball last year in a lot of big races.

“I could see it happening from Cheltenham onwards and it felt like it was going to be a bit of a struggle to get over the line.

“I felt more for Dan who finished ahead of me but ended up being done in the final few weeks by Willie.

“As for us, we still had more winners than anyone else and nearly £3 million in prize-money.

“You’ll fry your head if you keep worrying about winning the championship too much.

“You go through cycles in this game, but I think we are developing a nice strong team.”

On paper it definitely looks that way, even if his squad lacks the incredible Grade 1 strength in depth of Mullins.

He has fan favourites like Bravemansgame, who could start out in the Charlie Hall Chase, and Pic D’Orhy, who will run at Ascot at the end of next month.

And there are exciting young horses like Regent’s Stroll and Teeshan, who flopped at Cheltenham but is an exciting novice hurdler, coming through.

And he also has the exciting Caldwell Potter to look forward to in the big Grade 1s.

Nicholls said: “We are going to take our time and be patient.

“Most of those we have run so far have needed the run which is fine as it is hard to keep them going right through the spring if you go too hard, too early.

“There are plenty of big days and, fingers crossed, we should have another successful season.”

STABLE STAR

BRAVEMANSGAME is still the stable big gun, despite an underwhelming season last term. The 2022 King George hero and former Gold Cup runner-up has had a breathing operation over the summer.

Nicholls says: “I think the Gold Cup left a mark on him but we have re-cauterised his pallet and, on his work at home, I think he is back to his best. The Charlie Hall is his first target but I wouldn’t be afraid to run him under a big weight in the Badger Beers if it came up very soft at Wetherby.”

FESTIVAL FANCY

REGENT’S STROLL looked an exciting prospect last season when winning a pair of bumpers, coasting home by five lengths on his final start at Newbury in March.

He will end up in one of the big novice hurdles at the Festival, all being well.

Nicholls says: “He looked very smart and let’s hope it works out that way over hurdles. The big target for him in the first half is the Challow at Newbury in December.”

MONEY MAKER

GINNY’S DESTINY was a star for the stable last season. He won three races last term, including a couple of big pots in handicaps at Cheltenham, and ended the year with fine seconds in Grade 1s at the Festival and Aintree.

Nicholls says: “I’m really looking forward to him this season. I’ve got a real soft spot for this horse. He is being aimed at the Paddy Power Gold Cup next month.”

STAR RECRUIT

CALDWELL POTTER was a Grade 1 winner for Gordon Elliott and will make his eagerly awaited debut for the stable this year.

Nicholls says: “He is coming along nicely and looks fantastic. He won’t be seen on a track until late November at the earliest. We are taking our time with him but it’s exciting to have a horse like him in the yard.”

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Monger, who is from Charlwood in Surrey, was a kart racer as a child before joining the F4 British Championship in 2016.

He has since forged a career in broadcasting, featuring in the BBC series Celebrity Race Across the World and completing Billy’s Big Challenge in 2021, where he walked, cycled and kayaked across Britain and raised more than £3m for Comic Relief.

Monger completed Ironman 70.3 Weymouth in six hours, 41 minutes and 41 seconds. That course consisted of a 1.9km swim off the coast of the Dorset town before a 90km ride, followed by 21.1km on foot.

This weekend, he will compete in the longer Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, aiming to be the youngest double amputee to complete the course.

Competitors are required to finish the course within 17 hours, and must reach target times for each part of the race.

“It’s a 3.8km ocean swim, 180km cycling exposed to cross winds, volcanic barren lava fields and then you run around for a marathon at the end,” he said.

“It’s going to be a hell of a challenge.”

Germany’s Laura Philipp won the women’s world championship in Nice last month, finishing eight minutes clear of Great Britain’s Kat Matthews in second.

MANCHESTER UNITED have drawn up plans for the ‘Battle of Britain’ three months ahead of the fixture.

And the Red Devils are desperate to avoid a repeat of the ticketing fiasco from when they faced Galatasaray.

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United were pitted against Scottish giants Rangers in this season’s Europa League.

The two sides will face off at Old Trafford on January 23.

But the hosts are already figuring out who will be able to attend.

Last season, approximately 2,000 Galatasaray fans managed to buy tickets in the home end of Old Trafford to cheer on their Turkish heroes in the Champions League.

And not only would a repeat of the embarrassing scenes be humiliating for United – but could also pose a serious safety risk if rival fans clash in the stands.

As a result, United have taken drastic measures to ensure only their genuine fans are in the seats reserved for home supporters.

According to the Daily Mail, the club will only make tickets available to purchase to those who were registered members before the Europa League draw was made.

The fixture has been categorised as “high risk”.

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And that will also see the club in constant communication with local authorities on how to police the game.

United’s clash with Rangers is their penultimate of the new league phase in Europe this term – finishing with a trip to Romania to face Steaua Bucuresti on January 30.

Erik ten Hag’s struggles in European football have continued this term.

They kicked off this season’s campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to FC Twente.

They then needed an injury-time Harry Maguire header to salvage a 3-3 stalemate at Porto – despite leading 2-0 after just 20 minutes.

United head to the hostile Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Thursday where they take on Fenerbahce, managed by Jose Mourinho.

The Turkish side beat Union Saint-Gilloise in their opener before also being forced to settle for a point with a 1-1 result against Twente.

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