{"id":468473,"date":"2026-02-14T16:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468473\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T16:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T16:05:11","slug":"novak-djokovic-makes-decision-on-moving-abroad-after-uprooting-family-following-fallout-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468473\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic makes decision on moving abroad after uprooting family following fallout | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The world No. 3 has been loving life in Greece &#8211; he picked up his 101st career title in Athens late last year and has also joined a local tennis club. But the move was initially temporary, as Djokovic told CNN Greece in October: \u201cWe are, as a family, trying to see how the life goes here, the experience. It\u2019s only been less than two months. So we will see how it goes, but so far, as I said, it\u2019s been a very positive experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic and his family are still calling Greece their home &#8211; he returned to Athens after losing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/carlos-alcaraz\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/australian-open\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Open<\/a> final at the beginning of the month. And the 38-year-old now seems to be making Greece his permanent home after meeting with Thanos Plevris, the current Minister for Migration and Asylum.<\/p>\n<p> Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=express.co.uk&amp;hl=en_GB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings. <\/p>\n<p>Plevris took to social media on Thursday to share a photo of himself sitting with Djokovic. \u201cWith great pleasure, we welcomed to the Ministry the great athlete and man \u2066@DjokerNole\u2069. It is an honour for us that he wishes to stay with his family in our country,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that Djokovic is keen to stay in Greece. During his run to the title in Athens at the end of 2025, the world No. 3 <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/tennis\/2131643\/novak-djokovic-life-in-greece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">explained that it already felt like home<\/a>. Asked how it felt to lift the trophy, the Serbian superstar replied: \u201cLike at home. I love it! I want to thank everybody for coming out today and all week, supporting me and all the players. It&#8217;s been amazing for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic\u2019s initial decision to uproot his family from Serbia to Greece came amid claims that he has been targeted by the Serbian government after showing support for student-led protests against Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic, which took place at the end of 2024 following the collapse of a railway station in Novi Sad, which tragically killed 16 people.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-time Major winner publicly voiced his support for the protesters on social media at the time. \u201cAs someone who deeply believes in the power of youth and their desire for a better future, I believe it&#8217;s important that their voices are heard. Serbia has enormous potential, and its educated youth is its greatest strength. What we all need is understanding and respect. With you, Novak,\u201d he wrote. He also dedicated a match win at the 2025 Australian Open to one student who was hit by a car during a protest, and turned up to a Serbian basketball game wearing a hat which read \u2018Students are Champions\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic has not explicitly spoken out against President Vucic, but last year ahead of his move to Athens, it emerged that he <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/tennis\/2098049\/novak-djokovic-serbian-government-smear-campaig\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hoped to move to Greece using a Golden Visa programme<\/a>, which grants residence to non-EU citizens who make investments in the country. And the recent Aussie Open finalist now seems to be committing to life in his new home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world No. 3 has been loving life in Greece &#8211; he picked up his 101st career title&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[433,94355,94357,99,428,4563],"class_list":["post-468473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-family","tag-novak-djokovic-greece","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}