{"id":302697,"date":"2023-05-31T21:35:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T21:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302697"},"modified":"2023-05-31T22:59:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T22:59:12","slug":"djokovic-warned-over-militant-political-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302697","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic warned over 'militant' political comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said that Novak Djokovic's<\/a> political message about Kosovo<\/a> was \u201cnot appropriate\u201d and warned the former top-ranked Serb player that he should not do it again.<\/p>\n

Speaking on TV station France 2, Oudea-Castera said tournament director Amelie Mauresmo spoke with Djokovic and his entourage to insist on the principle of \u201cneutrality" on the field of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to defending human rights and bringing people together around universal values, a sportsperson is free to do so,\u201d she said. But Oudea-Castera added that Djokovic's message was \u201cmilitant, very political\u201d and \u201cmust not be repeated".<\/p>\n

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Djokovic has drawn criticism from Kosovo\u2019s tennis federation after offering his thoughts on clashes in northern Kosovo<\/a> between ethnic Serbs and police and NATO peacekeepers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After a first-round victory in Paris, Djokovic wrote in Serbian on the lens of a courtside TV camera: \u201cKosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence".<\/p>\n

Kosovo\u2019s tennis federation said that Djokovic\u2019s comments were \u201cdeplorable\u201d because he was stoking tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.<\/p>\n

The International Tennis Federation has not opened a disciplinary case.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe received a letter from Kosovo which we have answered," said ITF president David Haggerty.<\/p>\n

"But essentially we have forwarded their letter to the French federation, to the French Open, it\u2019s their tournament, and to the ATP who have the rules \u2014 the two of them together have the rules and regulations for the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haggerty added that \u201cathletes have to be careful on their political views. Sports and politics is what we have been talking about and we really want to keep them separate".<\/p>\n

A former province of Serbia, Kosovo\u2019s 2008 declaration of independence is not recognised by Belgrade. Ethnic Albanians make up most of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country bordering Serbia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Serbian, Djokovic said that he thought what he wrote on the TV camera was \u201cthe least I could do. I feel responsibility as a public figure … as well as a son of a man who was born in Kosovo".<\/p>\n

Without mentioning Djokovic by name, French Open organisers indicated in a statement issued that no rules had been broken, saying: \u201cOccasionally, discussions about international news events enter the realm of the tournament, which is understandable".<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina was asked about the issue after her second-round victory. She has spoken out about Russia's invasion of her country, and said athletes should be able to express opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we are living in the free world, so why not to say your opinion on something? I feel like if you stand for something, you think that this is the way, you should say (it),\u201d said Svitolina, who also acknowledged, \u201cI don\u2019t know the politics of Serbia.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said that Novak Djokovic's political message about Kosovo was \u201cnot appropriate\u201d and warned the former top-ranked Serb player that he […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":302291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302701,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302697\/revisions\/302701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/302291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}