2023-05-31 09:15:26
Asked about the sentence “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” written by the Serbian tennis player after his match in the Paris tournament on Monday, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra warned that “it must not happen reproduce”.
After the very lukewarm press release from the French Tennis Federation the day before, the French Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, judged more harshly this Wednesday, May 31, the message of Novak Djokovic written after his match at Roland-Garros on Monday qualifying Kosovo of “Heart of Serbia”. The minister and former director of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) said that the exit of the Serbian champion “is not appropriate”. “It must not start again”, she warned on France 2, taxing this message of «militant» et very political.
She said that the tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo, “had been able to exchange with him and with his entourage”, evoking the principle “of playing field neutrality”.
Tensions au Kosovo
Invited to comment on the expression of political positions during this Grand Slam tournament, such as those of Ukrainian athletes since the Russian invasion of their country, the Minister of Sports stressed that she did not put “not the two subjects on the same level”. “When we carry messages that are for the defense of human rights, messages that bring people together around universal values, an athlete is free to do so”, did she say. But, when it comes to a message “militant, very political” like that of the Serbian player, “This must not happen again.”
On the contrary, “What is happening to Ukrainians on the circuit is so painful, so difficult”she defended. “We can understand, even if we would like there to always be fair play until the end of shaking hands, there is a pain that is there, which I respect”, she added. On Sunday, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk did not greet Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka after their match, which earned her the whistles from the Roland-Garros public.
After his match won Monday against the American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1), Novak Djokovic, armed with his marker, wrote a few words in Cyrillic on the camera of the Philippe- Chatter: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia! Stop the violence.” This release of the world No.3 comes as northern Kosovo has been the scene for several days of clashes between soldiers of the international force led by NATO (KFOR) and Serb demonstrators who are demanding the departure of Albanian mayors from the locality.
Serbia, supported by its Russian and Chinese allies, has never recognized the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province and tensions regularly erupt between Belgrade and Pristina.
The Roland-Garros ethics charter prohibits political or religious positions. But the FFT published a rather sibylline press release, without addressing the question of a possible sanction: “The debates that cross the international news sometimes invite themselves on the sidelines of the tournament, it’s understandable”, simply stated the federation.
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