{"id":7260,"date":"2024-03-23T02:48:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/novak-djokovic-makes-political-statement-about-kosovo-after-first-round-french-open-win-cnn\/"},"modified":"2024-03-23T02:48:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:48:35","slug":"novak-djokovic-makes-political-statement-about-kosovo-after-first-round-french-open-win-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/novak-djokovic-makes-political-statement-about-kosovo-after-first-round-french-open-win-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic makes political statement about Kosovo after first-round French Open win | CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Novak<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

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\n
\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic<\/a> left a political message on a TV camera lens at the French Open <\/a>on Monday in response to violent clashes in Kosovo<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Following his first-round victory against American Aleksandar Kovacevic, Djokovic wrote \u201cKosovo is the [heart] of Serbia. Stop the violence\u201d in Serbian on a camera lens, using a heart symbol.\n <\/p>\n

\n The message was displayed on the big screen of Court Philippe Chatrier.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tensions have been rising in the past week in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. There were clashes with protestors on Monday after ethnically Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo<\/a>, a majority Kosovo Serb area, following April elections that Kosovo Serbs had boycotted.\n <\/p>\n

\n At least 34 soldiers with NATO\u2019s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo were injured during the clashes.\n <\/p>\n

\n Djokovic elaborated on his message in Serbian at a press conference, saying: \u201cThis is the least I could have done. I feel the responsibility as a public figure \u2013 doesn\u2019t matter in which field \u2013 to give support.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEspecially as a son of a man born in Kosovo, I feel the need to give my support to our people and to the entirety of Serbia. I don\u2019t know, and I think many others don\u2019t know, what the future brings for Kosovo and for Serbian people, but it\u2019s necessary to show support and demonstrate unity in these kinds of situations. I don\u2019t know what will happen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Djokovic\u2019s reference to the \u201centirety of Serbia\u201d reflects the policy of the Serbian government, which still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory and has not recognized the country\u2019s independence.\n <\/p>\n

\n NATO\u2019s Kosovo Force (KFOR) said that recent developments in Kosovo had prompted it to increase its presence in the northern part of the country on Monday.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to the Italian defense ministry, some KFOR soldiers were injured when protesters threw \u201cMolotov cocktails with nails, firecrackers and stones.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Reuters reported that Djokovic said he had not been approached by French Open organizers about the message he wrote on the camera lens, a photo of which he also shared on Instagram. CNN has contacted the French Tennis Federation for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy stance is clear: I am against wars, violence and any kind of conflict, as I\u2019ve always stated publicly. I empathize with all people, but the situation with Kosovo is a precedent in international law,\u201d the 36-year-old added.\n <\/p>\n

\n As a child growing up in Belgrade, Djokovic lived through NATO\u2019s 78-day bombing campaign<\/a> in 1999, which was intended to end atrocities committed by troops of Yugoslavia\u2019s then-president Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107 against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.\n <\/p>\n

\n Djokovic is aiming to win his 23rd grand slam title at the French Open, which would move him clear of Rafael Nadal at the top of the men\u2019s all-time list.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic left a political message on a TV camera lens at the French Open on Monday in response to violent clashes in Kosovo. Following his first-round victory against American Aleksandar Kovacevic, Djokovic wrote \u201cKosovo is the [heart] of Serbia. Stop the violence\u201d in Serbian on a camera lens, using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/230530093638-03-novak-djokovic-french-open-052923.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[605],"tags":[233,1228,1536,896,11194,8456,7371,753,699,700,10376,1535,1532,39,234,701,10639,10640,458,626,627,3884,702,754,1460],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7262,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions\/7262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}