{"id":502453,"date":"2026-02-27T06:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502453\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:06:12","slug":"smear-campaign-target-novak-djokovic-sent-harsh-message-by-serbian-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502453\/","title":{"rendered":"Smear campaign target Novak Djokovic sent ‘harsh’ message by Serbian president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic has been sent a message by Serbia\u2019s controversial president after the tennis icon was the target of a smear campaign from his country\u2019s government due to his political stance.<\/p>\n

Belgrade-born Djokovic relocated to Greece\u2019s capital, Athens, in September last year with his wife, Jelena, and their two children, Stefan and Tara.<\/p>\n

Djokovic<\/a> has not explicitly stated the reason for his move, but it is believed to be related to him being at odds with the Serbian government.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, Djokovic \u2013 who is Serbia\u2019s biggest national icon \u2013 expressed support for the student-led protests against Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic and the government as a whole.<\/p>\n

The previous month, mass protests took place in Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia, after the collapse of a railway station canopy killed 16 people, with demonstrators accusing Serbian police and local authorities of negligence and corruption. Protests had spread to 400 cities and towns by March 2025.<\/p>\n

According to Jaschar Dugalic, a journalist reporting for German news outlet Neue Zurcher Zeitung, the Serbian government \u201cset its sights\u201d on Djokovic as a result of his stance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dugalic reported, that \u201cregime-friendly media\u201d in Serbia has attacked the character of Djokovic, with tabloid newspaper Informer branding the tennis legend a \u201cdisgrace\u201d in response to his public support for protests.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic News<\/p>\n

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After it was reported that Djokovic was considering moving to Athens with his family, the same outlet labelled him \u201ca false patriot who had presented himself as a symbol of Serbia for years only to now flee to Greece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dugalic added that: \u201can entrepreneur and opponent of the protests published a video linking Djokovic\u2019s father to an alleged paedophile.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic say about Novak Djokovic?<\/p>\n

At the age of 38, Djokovic became the oldest player to reach an Australian Open final with his run at the 2026 edition of the Melbourne major last month.<\/p>\n

The 24-time Grand Slam champion downed Jannik Sinner in an epic five-set semi-final before falling in four sets to world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the title match.<\/p>\n

Speaking on TV Pink, as quoted by Sport Klub, Vucic congratulated Djokovic on his Australian Open heroics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wholeheartedly support Djokovic and all the people who wear the Serbian tricolour, and [I am] looking forward to his success,\u201d Vucic said (translated from Serbian).<\/p>\n

\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

\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

The president also revealed that he had spoken with Djokovic and bluntly declared that he \u201cwill not change\u201d his beliefs under the influence of any star.<\/p>\n

\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 asserted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not change my beliefs under the influence of any sports, acting or entertainment star.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Jack Draper hails \u2018proper inspiration\u2019 Novak Djokovic as he issues GOAT verdict<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic has been sent a message by Serbia\u2019s controversial president after the tennis icon was the target…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-502453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}