{"id":512473,"date":"2026-03-01T20:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512473\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T20:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:33:22","slug":"i-told-him-what-i-thought-firstpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512473\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I told him what I thought&#8217; \u2013 Firstpost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After Novak Djokovic leaves Serbia for Greece due to a political storm, President Aleksandar Vucic has finally broken the silence on the tennis star\u2019s action and his political beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has finally broken his silence on Novak Djokovic after the country\u2019s biggest sporting icon moved his family to Greece. Djokovic\u2019s wife, Jelena Djokovic, and his two children, Stefan and Tara, now live in Athens after leaving Belgrade last year.<\/p>\n<p>While Djokovic has never really revealed the reason for leaving his country, Serbia, it has been reported that he decided to do so due to pro-Vucic national media running a<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/sports\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-new-country-first-public-appearance-kids-change-schools-13934092.html\" id=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/sports\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-new-country-first-public-appearance-kids-change-schools-13934092.html\" class=\"body_anchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8216;smear&#8217; campaign against the 24-time Grand Slam winner<\/a> after he extended support to anti-government agitations.<\/p>\n<p>STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADDjokovic vs Vucic<\/p>\n<p>The anti-Vucic protest began in 2024 after an accident at a railway station led to the death of 16 people. Djokovic has at different stages supported the youth of the country, leading the protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs someone who deeply believes in the power of young people and their desire for a better future, I consider it important that their voice is heard. Serbia has enormous potential, and educated youth is its greatest strength. What we all need is understanding and respect. With you, Novak.\u201d Djokovic wrote on X in March 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Now, while recently speaking to TV Pink, as quoted by Sport Klub, Vucic spoke about Djokovic for the first time since his move to Athens.<\/p>\n<p>Vucic breaks silence on Djokovic leaving Serbia<\/p>\n<p>Vucic praised Djokovic\u2019s performance in the Australian Open 2026 as the 38-year-old reached the final, losing to Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wholeheartedly support Djokovic and all the people who wear the Serbian tricolour, and [I am] looking forward to his success,\u201d Vucic said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[He showed] something incredible in those years [in his win against Jannik Sinner]. [He is] the greatest of this time in a difficult and demanding sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is much more than a congratulatory message, he represents his country with dignity and makes it popular. Regardless of the result of the final, I support him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Vucic revealed that he had a word with Djokovic, but announced that he will \u201cnot change\u201d his beliefs under anyone\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him what I thought, now I would say it in a harsher way, not towards him, but towards the situation we were in,\u201d Vucic added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will not change my beliefs under the influence of any sports, acting or entertainment star.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n<p>While Djokovic has not reacted to Vucic\u2019s recent comments, the politician\u2019s tough stance is only likely to isolate him further in Serbia. And his return to Belgrade in the near future looks even more unlikely.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Home<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/sports\/\" title=\"Sports\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/sports\/tennis-news\/\" title=\"Tennis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tennis<\/a>President Vucic breaks silence on Djokovic leaving Serbia amid political storm: &#8216;I told him what I thought&#8217;End of Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Novak Djokovic leaves Serbia for Greece due to a political storm, President Aleksandar Vucic has finally broken&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[256566,64,63,256570,3592,256567,256568,62367,256571,85,747,750,256569],"class_list":{"0":"post-512473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-aleksandar-vucic","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-djokovic-moves-to-greece","12":"tag-novak-djokovic","13":"tag-novak-djokovic-aleksandar-vucic","14":"tag-novak-djokovicvs-aleksandar-vucic","15":"tag-serbia","16":"tag-serbia-anti-government-protests","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tennis","19":"tag-tennis-news","20":"tag-vucic-speaks-on-djokovic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}