Novak Djokovic claimed the title of Greatest Of All Time tennis player following his men’s singles win at 2023 Roland Garros last weekend. It was a long road to achieving his goal after Victorian Premier Dan Andrews revoked Djokovic’s visa, preventing him from competing at the 2022 Australian Open, stymieing his chance at securing the GOAT title last year ahead of long time rival Rafael Nadal.
Defeating Roland Garros this year was a strike back for Djokovic against last year and his title win motivation to stay in the top five of the Grand Slams as long as possible. He’s only 36 but the physical demands of the game are tough and he says he doesn’t know how long his body will last as the injuries stack up.
But Novak Djokovic made his own political statement when he wrote on a camera at the French Open “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” – drawing a complaint to the international tennis body.
Djokovic defended his message in comments to Serb media, saying that Kosovo is Serbia’s “cradle, our stronghold”.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body of the sport, said they had received a request from the Kosovo Tennis Federation demanding Djokovic be sanctioned over his actions.
However, they pointed out that such statements do not contravene regulations.
“Rules for player conduct at a Grand Slam event are governed by the Grand Slam rulebook, administered by the relevant organiser and regulator. There is no provision in this that prohibits political statements,” an ITF spokesman told AFP.
France24
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina pre-warned the organisers at Roland Garros that she would not shake hands with her Belarusian opponent because Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had allowed his country to be used by Vladimir Putin in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Svitolina followed through and walked away from Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka left standing at the net waiting for the customary handshake after their quarter-final match.
Naturally, the media blamed Sabalenka for highlighting the missing interchange. She is Belarusian, complicit with the baddies. Fluff’s sake, girl, they said, why didn’t you just walk away when you knew she would ignore you?
[Sabalenka]…said she didn’t know. “It just was an instinct like I always do after all my matches,” she told a press conference.
Asked if world No.2 Sabalenka was looking to inflame the situation by standing at the net, Svitolina said: “Yeah, I think so.”
Sydney Morning Herald
Sabalenka did know – she was making her own political statement by standing at the net highlighting the snub.
The precedent had been set during the first round of the women’s singles when Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Sabalenka. It was not challenged by the event organisers.
In both instances, the crowd booed – at least they had their priorities right, as did Sabalenka who spoke about it after the event but refused to be drawn on talking politics or taking sides.
“I’m not supporting the war. And the thing that I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a tennis player, 25-[year]-old tennis player. And if I would like to be political I wouldn’t be here. I don’t want to be involved in any politics.”
Tennis World USA
Take a bow Aryna Sabalenka, you displayed more common sense than the 2023 women’s singles champion at Roland Garros, Polish player Iga Swiatek, who wore ribbons of the Ukrainian colours yellow and pale blue on her hat throughout the tournament. Swiatek used the tournament to make a political statement. That is her choice, but in my view, it’s a poor one.
Of course players hold political opinions, but is the sports field the appropriate place to air them? Surely they delude themselves and demean the sport by thinking the venue is appropriate and they are an appropriate person to influence public opinion.
The overreach of politics in sports is the ugly nose of politics interfering where it does not belong.
Who isn’t aware of the Olympic Games of 1936? They are not remembered as the neutral sports venue originally intended, but as the Nazi Olympics where Hitler commandeered them for Nazi propaganda. Governments and players will do it again, doubtless, but it doesn’t have to be tolerated.
If the international sports bodies and tournament organisers introduced penalties for flouting good manners, at least the opportunity to offend another player would be avoided. Banning all political statements is trickier, given most players – and a large part of the audience – are fiercely patriotic, which adds to the fun and excitement.
A blanket ban on political statements would be problematic but penalties could be applied to garnering political support for or against a country the player does not represent. Surely that could be enforced, but would sporting bodies go there? They should; they are more interested in sports than politics, right?