America, meet Serbia
BELGRADE — What do you know about Serbia? No, that’s Serbia, not Siberia.
Twenty-year-old Novak Djokovic’s defeat of world number one and heavy favorite Roger Federer August 12 at the Rogers tournament in Montreal, one of the preparatory events for the U.S. Open, is the biggest in a string of recent successes for young Serbs.
It is not unfair to say that most Americans have little-to-no knowledge of the new and newly landlocked country (its coastline was lost when Montenegro voted in May 2006 to leave the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the successor state to Yugoslavia) of some 10 million. But for those that do have some impression of the people of this country, that impression is usually, perhaps almost exclusively, limited to a view of Serbs as aggressors. There really is no other word. Mentions of Serbs in the media for the last nearly two decades typically involve other familiar words, phrases, and place names that bring to mind disturbing remembrances, such as: ethnic cleansing, siege, war criminals, Sarajevo, Kosovo, failed negotiations, and Srebrenica. Serbs are widely known as those responsible for the wars that ravaged the Balkans in the 1990s.
But eight years after conflicts’ end and seven years after its people overthrew their dictator and extradited him to The Hague, a new face of Serbia has surged onto the world stage. Mere children in Europe’s grim debacle, a new crop of young Serbs have shaken off their older compatriots’ endless failings and suddenly emerged to become, of all things, role models.
Three implausibly talented Serbian stars have stormed the tennis scene this year. Novak Djokovic is currently ranked #3, while on the women’s tour, 22-year-old Jelena Jankovic is #3 with 19-year-old Ana Ivanovic close behind at #5. It’s not insignificant that we’re talking about one of the most elite of sports, the rich person’s sport. Afterall, Serbia could have produced three world-class boxers, couldn’t it?
But tennis is not even the only mega-success story. Europeans became enthralled with Serbia this spring when 22-year-old Marija Serifovic won the coveted Eurovision title, a ridiculously over-the-top song contest unfamiliar to Americans, but a phenomenon in Europe, with a television audience of a staggering 150 million and contestants from Iceland to Israel, Macedonia to Monaco. Her ballad, Molitva (“Prayer”), moved voters with its heartrending key change and the singer’s belting voice. While some (most noticeably, the British, whose embarrassing entry of singing air-stewardesses finished second to last) cried “bloc-voting,” the practice of formerly politically-tied Eastern European states voting for their neighbors, the truth is that Molitva simply pulled at the sappily-inclineds’ heartstrings. Serbs are kicking ass, not only in world sporting events (the Serbian national water polo team is back to its old championship ways, while the country’s under-18 and under-20 basketball teams are chalking up championships, paving the way for another world champion national team), but also in the realm of international pop-cheese.
Djokovic, or Nole, as he is more commonly known in his home country, took the hard and seemingly charmed road to his most recent win. He defeated the number two (Spain’s Rafael Nadal) and three (the United States’ Andy Roddick) seeded players to reach the final with Switzerland’s Federer. To overpower the top three athletes in the same tournament is a feat for the record books. Nadal puts fear in all his opponents with perhaps the strongest mental game in the sport, not to mention those rippling biceps. Roddick is in the middle of a full-force comeback after some disappointing loses, and has one of the fiercest serves on the ATP tour. While Federer, well Federer is just Federer: the man has no weaknesses to exploit. But Nole outlasted Rafa, went head to head on aces with “the other A-Rod,” and crushed Federer in two tie-breaks. This was in no small way, Djokovic’s tournament.
It was surely the younger man’s perseverance and positive attitude that made the win possible. Novak is not afraid to laugh disarmingly and look to the sky when Federer gets the better of him, his endearing smiling self-reproaches contrast with Federer’s customary stoic countenance. Novak is human and young, Federer the robotic old-hand. It’s easy to fall for the slightly awkward boy, just out of his teens, and begin to root for the upstart to beat the statesman.
Back in Serbia, the country has been in a state of tennis delirium for months, pinned to television screens, cheering on “our” boy and girls, or cursing shots out by centimeters. Tennis centers throughout the capital are full from early hours and long into the night with thousands of school children hoping to become the next Nole. To sum up what it all means for people in Serbia, the local television commentator declared upon Federer’s loss, “The king is dead! Long live the king!” No offense to Federer, but a lot of high hopes hang on the promising lad.
Yet it seems that everyone still has a little trouble knowing from where Djokovic hails. Serbia, just as it is not Siberia, is also not Croatia. When an official introduced the champion in Montreal, he presented the “Croat, Novak Djokovic.” This was no small error. Croats and Serbs were at war with each other, with trials still ongoing to punish those responsible for wartime wrongdoings. But for Novak it was a small error. When offered his chance to speak about his victory, he politely corrected the mistaken identity, saying “Of course I’m not angry; it’s the same thing.” He was quick to make certain that no one would think that he could be bothered by the supposition that he is Croatian. For Djokovic the two peoples who speak nearly identical languages have more in common than differences between them. He then praised Federer, “It’s a dream come true to win such a strong tournament and to win against probably the best player ever in the sport.” And this time when an athlete makes such remarks, you believe him.
If you watch the moments after the win in slow motion, you’ll see Novak in total disbelief, his eyes like saucers. Widely known for being on friendly terms with many of the other players and his fun-loving manner off the court, you couldn’t ask for a better idol: humble, with impeccable sportsmanship, Novak is the underdog who unseeded the reigning champion.
Also stealing the spotlight and showing what dreams are made of, are Djokovic’s compatriots Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. In a stunning day in the history of Serbian tennis, Ivanovic was the second Serb to secure a championship title, at the Los Angeles East West Bank Classic, another U.S. Open Series event. To get to that final, she competed against Jankovic in an all-Serbian semifinal. Aside from her powerhouse passing shots, Ivanovic is making headlines for her good looks, the brunette to the blonde tradition of Kournakova and Sharapova. But more refreshing are her smiles and quiet kind words. In her acceptance speech, she even thanked “the ball boys and ball girls.” A more gracious winner there has never been. Jankovic follows the same trend. On her way to the mixed doubles victory this year at Wimbledon with the UK’s Jamie Murray, she laughed rather than cursed when shots didn’t go her way. With all the positivity exuding from these tennis stars, people will finally have another impression of Serbia. One of a talented, warm, and thankful people.
On the same day that their older compatriots battle it out to retain the sovereignty of their country by trying to halt the independence of the province of Kosovo and discuss possible partition of the territory along ethnic lines, these young people showed the world the better side of Serbia. Sanctions and NATO bombs may have made their path to stardom more difficult, but here they are, with Serbia’s best face forward, and the U.S. Open just days away.