tennis legend and also master of controversy “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence”, wrote Novak Djokovic on a television camera after winning his first match at Roland Garros, opening a new controversy that is added to the long list that has led.
The beginning of the search for his 23rd Grand Slam title on the Parisian clay, which would mean breaking the tie at 22 with Rafael Nadal and achieving one of the greatest sporting feats in history, was peppered with controversy.
One more in a long list of controversies, misunderstandings, missteps or misunderstandings.
He had just defeated the American of Serbian origin Aleksandar Kovacevic (6-3, 6-2, 7-6) in the Philippe Chatrier [1]) and picked up the felt-tip pen to write a few words in Cyrillic on the camera glass. “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence,” was her message.
The world number three referred to the situation in northern Kosovo, the scene for several days of clashes between members of the NATO-led International Force for Kosovo (KFOR) and Serb protesters demanding the departure of four Albanian mayors in the region, elected in April.
‘I’m not a politician’
In a press conference the player gave explanations to Serbian journalists: “It is a sensitive issue, I feel an additional responsibility as a public figure and as the son of a man born in Kosovo to give my support to all the Serbian people. It is the least I can do. I am not a politician and I do not intend to enter into a debate.
It is not the first time that the player has ruled on Kosovo. In January 2008, when he clinched his first trophy at the Australian Open, he declared: “Kosovo is Serbia.”
The Balkan country, supported by their allies Russia and Chinahas never recognized the independence of Kosovo, proclaimed in 2008 by its former province, since then tensions have often exploded between Belgrade and Pristina.
The message that Djokovic stamped on the camera could mean a violation of the Roland Garros ethics charter, which prohibits political or religious positioning. “I don’t know if they are going to penalize me,” she limited herself to saying at a press conference.
This Tuesday the French Tennis Federation released a statement without addressing the issue of a possible sanction. “The debates that cross international news are sometimes invited to tournaments, it is understandable,” he limited himself to pointing out.
“Djokovic’s statement is not a surprise,” Lukas Macek, a researcher at the Paris-based Jacques Delors institute for political science, told AFP.
“Novak is someone who maintains links with some Serbian nationalist media and his positions are often in this direction. But the Kosovo issue, even for very moderate Serbs, is still a wound, a delicate and painful issue,” he argued.
An issue that is also sensitive for the Kosovars: A mural with Djokovic’s face was vandalized on the night of Monday to Tuesday in a building in Orahovac, a small town in the southwest of Kosovo, where hundreds of Serbs live alongside Albanians, who are the majority.
‘A provocative side’
Assumption against the anticovid vaccine It has been his most famous polemic. Djokovic was held in Australia for several days in January 2022, finally being expelled without being able to play the first Grand Slam of the year for not being vaccinated.
Djokovic maintains his position and for example this year he was unable to compete in Indian Wells and Miami.
“Above all, he has views that are not in the Western mainstream. He certainly has a provocative side,” added Lukas Macek.
The player It had already shocked the world in the midst of a pandemicwhen he organized a tournament for several countries of the former Yugoslavia, causing a cascade of infections when much of the world lived in lockdown.
Another of his ‘hits’, his disqualification in the round of 16 of the US Open 2020 after having inadvertently hit a linesman with a violent ball.
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His attempts to lead a shakeup of the men’s tour have also drawn suspicion.
Above all, his personality, an enigma for many, who seems “cut the bridges of a popularity at the height of his talent”pointed out a few years ago a tournament director.