Croatia’s best tennis players were greeted as heroes in Zagreb on Monday after becoming Davis Cup champions.
The Davis Cup champions have returned home from France, with the trophy of the most prestigious team competition in their hands! Croatia’s tennis stars were welcomed at Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb on Monday where several thousand fans gathered, reports Gol.hr on November 26, 2018.
Recall, on Sunday, for the second time in history, Croatia won the Davis Cup and became the last team to win this trophy as we know it, given that the competition will take on a new format next year.
Around 14:30 on Monday, the Davis Cups champions landed in Zagreb where they were honored with water cannons, just as Croatia’s footballers were welcomed in July when they came back to Croatia as World Cup finalists.
After disembarking the plane, the players were photographed and jumped on a bus to Zagreb’s main square. Thousands of fans waited to receive the new Davis Cup champions there.
The celebrations began yesterday at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium and then continued at the social center Le Center social Albert Jacquard, which was hosted by representatives of the Croatian Association Lille. The celebration lasted until the morning hours and even continued on the plane this morning.
The rain that raged in Zagreb for the last two days stopped just in time so as not to spoil the celebration of our world tennis champions.
With the song “Igraj moja Hrvatska” by the Zaprešić Boys, the national team was introduced. The players then came onto the stage one by one, with the loudest applause received by the 7th best tennis player in the world, Marin Čilić.
“Bonjour Zagreb,” Čilić shouted with a smile, and continued,
“This is unbelievable; this is like a dream. Thank you all. We showed everyone that we are the best.”
After the Croatian national anthem, Borna Ćorić continued with “Bježite ljudi, bježite iz grada…”.
Coach Željko Krajan also got into the spirit and belted a song of his hometown, Varaždin.
“Just now I see how big this is. We have become World Champions,” added Krajan.
Franko Škugor from Šibenik even picked up the microphone to sing “Dalmacijo”.
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić expressed his gratitude to the team, saying “we got France back for what happened in Moscow.”
After the celebration at Ban Jelačić Square, the Croatian Davis Cup team will go to Pantovčak, where there will be a reception at the Office of President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, who also enjoyed the games in Lille the last few days.
To read more about Croatia in the Davis Cup, follow TCN’s dedicated page here.
