Anti-vaccine and idol of nationalism, Djokovic breaks records – 06/11/2023 – Sport

After the victory over the North American Aleksandar Kovacevic, in the first round of this year’s Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic approached the camera with the pen to write a message, as it usually happens in the tournament. He didn’t draw a symbol, he didn’t thank anyone. As is his way, he went in the opposite direction of what is usually done:

“Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.”

It caused a furore. He’s used to it. One of the best tennis players in history and now the biggest winner of Grand Slam titles, the Serbian is idolized in his country, a nationalist idol and a declared skeptic of vaccines.

French Sports Minister Amelie Oueda-Castera called Djokovic’s political message “inappropriate” and warned him not to repeat it. The Kosovo Tennis Federation published a note calling the Serb’s action deplorable because it increased tension in the region.

Part of the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo declared independence in 2008. This is not recognized by Serbia, which considers the area still part of its territory.

“I don’t know what will happen. I heard there were many protests on social media. I won’t go back and I would do it again. My position is clear: I am against wars, violence or any kind of conflict. I empathize with all people, but the situation in Kosovo is a precedent in international law and I am very saddened by the current situation. Kosovo is our home, our fortress and our most important monasteries are there,” he said on Serbian TV after the phrase written on camera caused controversy.

Djokovic’s political views have come to the fore in the last two weeks because of his attitude after winning his debut and the campaign that ended with a 3-set victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud (7-6, 6-3, 7-5). this Sunday (11). With 23 titles, he became the tennis player with the most achievements on the circuit that encompasses the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.

It was at one of those tournaments that caused a stir last year. He arrived in Australia with a medical statement that released him from being vaccinated against Covid-19. The country’s government did not accept the document and asked for additional proof. Djokovic would be deported, but ended up sent to a refugee center and did not participate in the competition.

His father, Srdan, released text in Serbian media stating that Novak was a “Spartacus of the new age”, in reference to the Thracian who escaped slavery and led revolt against the Roman Empire. It was a definition that found an echo in the anti-vaccination movement, which began to consider the tennis player a hero. President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that the sportsman’s detention was “harassment”.

Djokovic has always been an outspoken skeptic of vaccines.

“I am personally against vaccinations and I would not want anyone to force me to be vaccinated in order to travel. If this becomes a law, what will happen next?”, he asked in a video conversation with his Davis Cup teammates .

Djokovic organized the tournament in Zada, Croatia, in the midst of the pandemic, to prove that the world could continue to function normally despite Covid-19. Shortly afterwards he was forced to apologize as several attendees tested positive for the virus. Including him.

In an interview with The New York Times, Bosnian-American journalist and novelist Aleksandar Hemon explained that the tennis player adopts common postures among defenders of Serbian nationalism because he grew up while Yugoslavia was falling apart, from the Croatian War, in 1991.

For political commentators in the Balkans, he is a sportsman’s version of “The Doctor and the Monster,” a work by Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson about a respectable man by day who becomes someone else by night.

Alongside his wife, Jelena, he created the Novak Djokovic Foundation to fund educational programs for children. There were several donations made by the entity to Unicef, the majority to help support programs for homeless people in the floods that hit Serbia in 2014. The money was also used in Bosnia and Croatia.

He is also the biggest voice on the circuit in defending lower-ranked tennis players, who sometimes have to sacrifice financially to participate in tournaments.

This made him be seen as a kind of politician of the sport, a position that put him in a position contrary to the ATP (Association of Professional Tennis Players) itself and to other well-known names, such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

But talking about politics also makes him be seen as a supporter of conspiracy theories. One is his distrust of the values ​​of Western democracy.

“I can’t believe what we see today in almost all modern countries, in our so-called democratic civilization. More than politics, they seem like corporate interests to me. As a neutral observer, I say that we lost our true democratic values ​​many years ago. Nowadays, business matter more,” he declared.

He has also commented on his esoteric beliefs, such as purifying “water with emotions as a way of transforming energy through the power of prayer”. He claims that this can make the liquid have the ability to heal.

His skepticism about the pandemic put nationalist views in the background for some time. Something that came to the fore at Roland Garros this year.

He had been criticized in 2021 for a photo alongside the commander of Drina Volves, a Serbian army unit that participated in what became known as the Srebrenica Genocide, where more than 8,000 Bosnians were executed over three days for being Muslim. Shortly after, a video appeared in which he sang at an embraced wedding with the leader of the Bosnian-Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik.

After Kosovo’s declaration of independence, Djokovic recorded a video that summarized his position on the issue.

“We are prepared to defend what is rightfully ours. Kosovo is Serbia.”