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World No. 188 Damir Dzumhur is making history at the Australian Open, and the Bosnian contingent at Melbourne Park is more than making sure that the 21 year old’s progress doesn’t go unnoticed.

The raucous crowd was Dzumhur’s self-proclaimed “second player” on Wednesday as he reached the third round when Ivan Dodig succumbed to cramps in the soaring temperatures Down Under. It was the Sarajevo native’s fifth win in a historic nine days, which has seen him become the first Bosnian to qualify for a Grand Slam and then power through to a third-round meeting with Tomas Berdych.

“I was lucky today,” said Dzumhur. “I always said, when you’re trying to get to the Top 100, Top 150, you need to be lucky a little bit. It’s a huge day for me, really. I still cannot believe that I’m in the third round of the Australian Open.”

Emirates ATP Rankings

It is a feat equal in national popularity to the Bosnian football team’s recent qualification into its first World Cup in Brasil this year. “The reaction at home when I qualified was incredible,” said Dzumhur. “It’s the early hours of the morning in Bosnia [when I play], but the people aren’t sleeping. Luckily [against Dodig] they had a live stream, so they could watch me. But even without that, they were up all night watching the live scoreboard. When I finished the match, there were hundreds of messages.

“It’s a big thing for Bosnia. It’s like the football team, who qualified for the World Cup in Brasil for the first time. That was huge, and this can compare.”

The rollercoaster ride of the Australian Open is a far cry from Dzumhur’s war-torn beginnings. Two weeks after he was born in Sarajevo, the Bosnian War began. “Until 1996 there was a war in Bosnia. It was destroyed,” said Dzumhur. “Even today, we have only one normal hard court in the whole of Sarajevo. It was made this year. Before then, I was practising on some surfaces that don’t even exist in tennis. So it was really tough, especially at the start.

“I was lucky that my father was a coach, he had a club. I started playing with him. I really loved tennis, nobody was pushing me. I think that was the most important thing. I was playing with my whole heart.”

One hard court does not a Top 100 player make, though. And so it is that Dzumhur is searching for a new training base, with professional facilities and a high standard of practice partners. He spent time in the off-season training in Italy with Alberto Castalini, who has previously worked with Ivo Karlovic and Rainer Schuettler.

And now, reaching the third round of a major opens a lot of doors, not least financially. Dzumhur has previously coped with the expense of travelling on tour with backing from his parents and two sponsors, one in the U.S.A. and one in Bosnia. He is now guaranteed to take home at least A$75,000.

That, plus the projected rise in his Emirates ATP Ranking, will certainly make scheduling easier for Dzumhur moving forward as he looks to break into the Top 100.

Fans“The fear of playing qualifying was you play three matches, you get tired, then you don’t get anything, enough points or money. But this tournament here will change everything, definitely. I was trying to play good and I knew that if you play good, all [the money] will come. Finally that day came when I can say I earned enough to cover my expenses for the rest of the year.

“This is going to really help me now for the rest of the season. I have to choose really smart tournaments. I think I have a good chance now to get into the Top 100 this year. Before the season, I said I wanted to be Top 150. But I’m already there after reaching the second round here. This is the tournament that I will always remember and I just can’t explain how happy I am right now.”

As well as making a name for himself on the ATP World Tour during the Australian Open, Dzumhur has also had the chance to be around his childhood heroes in the locker room.

“My favourite player, when I was really young, was Patrick Rafter,” he said. “I liked what he wore, his shorts and t-shirts, the sunblock. He had such good volleys and was a fighter and everything. Then when he stopped, my favourite was Roger Federer. I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t like the way he plays. He’s just unbelievable. I like how he acts on the court and off it. Federer has been my idol for the past 10 years. I hope there will be the chance to play against him, just to experience that.”

The way he’s travelling, it surely won’t be long before Dzumhur gets his chance.

Damir Dzumhur’s historic Australian Open campaign may have ended in defeat to Tomas Berdych in Friday’s third round at Melbourne Park, but the Bosnian has made himself plenty of fans, not least World No. 2 Novak Djokovic.

“Just after the match I talked to Novak,” revealed Dzumhur. “He just said, ‘Congratulations. Definitely you will have these matches more and more.’ I think in the future I will definitely play better in these matches. I just need more of them to get used to it. Then it will be easier to play them.

“He’s one of the best ever players in the history of tennis. His words mean a lot to me. It’s nice that a player like him said nice things to me. I’m definitely proud of that.”

Read Dzumhur's Story

Djokovic may have believed he was talking to Dzumhur for the first time, but the Bosnian recalled an initial meeting five years ago at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where Djokovic was practising and he was playing a junior tournament. It was an experience that left its mark.

“I met him when I was really young, but I don’t think he remembered!” said Dzumhur. “I was just 16. I remember it very well! I know his brothers very well, so we just spoke about tennis a little bit. He didn’t see me playing, so he couldn’t say anything about that. But now he said that he hopes he will play against me and he will see me in the big tournaments again. I hope I will use all this and work hard to get that nice future.”

The 21-year-old Dzumhur made history this week as he became the first Bosnian to play at a Grand Slam after qualifying into the main draw. He was followed every step of the way by a legion of Bosnian supporters, but his following does not stop there.

“Some of the newspapers and TV stations just called me after the match,” said Dzumhur. “They were unbelievably surprised with my game. They said that the whole of Bosnia didn’t sleep tonight. Everybody was in front of the TV, watching Eurosport, and they were just so proud. They said that this is such a success. Nobody did it before and they don’t know if anyone will repeat it. They hope that I will do it again.

“I’m really glad that I’m a Bosnian. I hope I will come here again and to other Grand Slams and big tournaments to represent Bosnia, because the whole country deserves it and we need sports success. Now they expect me to be a good player and I hope I will make them happy.”

Currently World No. 188 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Dzumhur hopes to use the experience of facing a Top 10 player on Hisense Arena as he pushes towards the Top 100. He could start as early as next week at the Heilbronn Challenger, if he makes the cut.

“I definitely learned how it is to be at a high level in tennis,” he said. “I know what my good things are and what I need to work on. I know something I really need to work on and that’s my serve and I will try. I was fighting a lot today, but that just isn’t enough with these players.

“My target at the end of the year is to be Top 100. Of course, if I continue to play like this, it will happen. That’s what Novak told me. He said, ‘If you continue to play like this, at this level at the smaller tournaments and Challengers, then definitely you are going. Because now you know you have such a good game to be at a high level.’ I will keep his words in my mind and try to make it like that.”

There are no “gimmes” on the road to the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and it’s been a lesson learned for Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur this season on the ATP World Tour.

The 22 year old became a media sensation back home after he became the first Bosnian man to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January. His run was ended by Tomas Berdych in the third round, but the excitement continued as Bosnia then beat Greece in the Davis Cup.

Since then, Dzumhur won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Mersin, Turkey, and qualified for his second Grand Slam main draw appearance at Roland Garros, falling in three tight sets to Feliciano Lopez in the first round.

“The thing that I've really learned is that in any tournament, doesn't matter if it's Australia or Futures, you have to play the same against every player,” Dzumhur told ATPWorldTour.com at Roland Garros. “Doesn't matter if it's a Top 10 player or No. 1000, you have to play your best. You can lose to anyone, you can beat anyone. You have to focus in every match, be ready for every match.

“You cannot just say, 'I did a good result, OK I'll get matches just like that.' You're not going to get them. Other players will even fight more because they know you and that you did a good result. That's something I learned, and also, mentally, you have to be stronger for more good results.”

"After the really good result [in Australia], it's not easy again to play smaller tournaments and Challengers. That was a big problem for me, especially in the few tournaments after Australia. I was also a bit tired, because immediately after Australia I played Davis Cup matches. There were so many emotions in those two-three weeks and it was tough to recover,” said Dzumhur.

But Dzumhur is not only facing challenges on the court. The Bosnian has found funding and development difficult, limited in his choice of facilities and practice partners at home in Bosnia and the one sponsor that he had, an American pharmaceutical company, has had to end their contract due to financial difficulties.

“Nothing has improved much, even after Australia,” explained Dzumhur. “It was a big boom in Bosnia, everybody was talking about that. Even after Davis Cup, we won, everybody was listening to it and everyone knew about it. But all these big companies that can give the money, they didn't. They heard, but they are not interested. I just feel like the country isn't interested in giving the money to sport. They don't see a good business there. But I hope I can do it alone because I was doing it almost all the years alone with my parents.

"My parents have invested a lot in it. It's good actually that I've played in good tournaments, where the prize money is good. That's been one plus for this year. In the past few years, I played only Futures, sometimes qualifying for Grand Slams and some Challengers. That wasn't enough. This year, I started pretty good and it's only the end of May. I still have six months to make the results and I think it will be OK.”

One person Dzumhur can count on for support and encouragement is World No. 2 and Serbia native Novak Djokovic, who was among the first to congratulate Dzumhur on his run Down Under. “I spoke to Novak again here,” said Dzumhur. “Unfortunately there is no time to see him more to get more advice from him. It's really useful [being at the big tournaments], not just for when you are playing, but also when you are in the locker room with all the best players and you talk to them and they give you some advice. When you just watch them, you can learn a lot.”

Dzumhur took home €24,000 in prize money from Roland Garros and will now look to further boost his year’s earnings by qualifying at Wimbledon. The Sarajevo native will play two ATP Challenger Tour events before attempting to qualify into The Championships, where he reached the quarter-finals as a junior in 2010. A good showing on the grass in June would set the Bosnian up for a tilt at the Top 100, his next goal.

“In the next two months I have some points to defend, but anyway I think if I play good, it will be enough to defend them, then go for the Top 100,” said Dzumhur. “Even if I don't break the Top 100 this year, it will be good if I can be close, just to get into the Australian Open main draw.

“I like the grass; we'll see how it will be this year. I think you need some luck in the draw, because you can get a guy who is No. 200, but who is serving good and volleying against you. Then you don't have many chances. But if you get a good draw, then it's really possible to get into the main draw and I hope I'll do it at Wimbledon.”