Since the start of the Djokovic affair, Una Matovic has lost three kilos. And she doesn’t usually watch tennis. Her thing, a 44-year-old Australian of Serbian origin living in Brisbane, is “Nole”. It is mobilized, like all the small Serbian community installed between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
For the administrator of the “Serbs in Melbourne” Facebook page, “All the Serbs are on Novak’s side”, whose visa was revoked a second time on Friday due to the Australian administration’s doubts about his reasons for not being vaccinated against Covid-19. Based on the 2016 census, this would make around 20,200 supporters in Australia, a good third of them in the state of Victoria. Among them, no discordant voice.
Nina Markovic Khaze is a communications manager in an immigration agency. Visas, she knows. And she says she was amazed when she learned that Djokovic’s was canceled last week at the airport: “Like my compatriots, I first felt shock and disbelief.” His tension mounted when the player was taken to a detention center. “You should know that this is a symbolic date, since it is our Christmas Eve [orthodoxe, nldr]. Putting him in detention that day, which is the most sacred day on our calendar, it was frightening ”, Nina remembers.
“The atmosphere is unhealthy”
“When we saw that he was locked up with criminals, we felt compelled to support him”, explains Una Matovic. Protests are taking place across the country, including outside the player’s hotel and his law firm in Melbourne. An Orthodox priest mingled with the crowd. “Not all of Djokovic’s supporters are Serbs, specifies Nina. But our community felt personally and physically the effects of its confinement. I heard a granny say that she refused to eat at Christmas, in solidarity with him. Myself, I lost three kilos. However, I don’t watch tennis! ”
Soldier in the ordeal, the community is also in concern. In particular, the media treatment of the case. During a demonstration, a young Serb got into a car, forcing the police to use pepper spray. “He was an idiot, but he didn’t mean to hurt. Everyone got carried away and the press added more ”, laments Una. Who brandishes the front page «Return Serb» from Daily Telegraph, exacerbating the xenophobic tendencies of some. Since the beginning of the saga, and with this politico-sanitary polarization, “Yes, there are threats”, ensures the communicator. Compatriots have also lodged a complaint. “The atmosphere is unhealthy, Nina insists. It reminds us of the stigma we suffered in the 90s. It is especially hard for the older ones. Yet we respect the rules. ”
“Many Serbs will want to leave Australia”
All this for tennis. But how did we get there? “There is collective hysteria linked to the pandemic – but this should not affect Novak Djokovic, our native child”, Una gets angry. On the TikTok network, Tommyvangelvoski recalls that Djokovic gave money during the fires that ravaged Australia in 2020 and “That he is not an idiot”. He asks: “Why would he have worked so hard to become number 1 and screw everything up coming in without permission?”
On Friday, when the Minister of Immigration announced the new cancellation of Novak Djokovic’s visa, Natalija Ivanovic predicts that “Many Serbs will want to leave Australia because in Serbia at least they will be treated with respect.” “I suffer for my fellow Australians, adds Una Matovic in Brisbane. But Djokovic is not to blame for this debacle. He just came to play tennis. ”
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