Kosovo Olympic Committee asked the International Olympic Committee to open disciplinary proceedings against Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic for, as they said, inciting political tensions with his statement that \u201cKosovo is the heart of Serbia\u201d, made at the French Open tournament.<\/p>\n
The head of the Kosovo Olympic Committee Ismet Krasniqi said \u201cDjokovic has again promoted the propaganda of Serbian nationalists and has used the sports platform to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther statements after the match made by such a public figure, without any sense of remorse, directly result in increasing the level of tensions and violence between the two countries,\u201d said Krasniqi.<\/p>\n
According to him, the International Olympic Committee should investigate the case, opening disciplinary procedures against the athlete.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old who has won 22 Grand Slam titles wrote in Serbian on the lens of a courtside TV camera \u201cKosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence\u201d after a first-round victory in Paris on Monday.<\/p>\n
Djokovic said that he is against any kind of conflict, but defended his statement, while describing the situation in Kosovo as a \u201cprecedent\u201d.<\/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\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel responsibility as a public figure\u2026 as well as a son of a man who was born in Kosovo,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n
Kosovo\u2019s tennis federation previously said that Djokovic\u2019s comments were \u201cdeplorable\u201d and stoking tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.<\/p>\n
French Sports Minister Am\u00e9lie Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra said Wednesday that Djokovic\u2019s political message about Kosovo 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, Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra said French Open director Amelie Mauresmo spoke with Djokovic and his entourage to insist on the principle of \u201cneutrality\u201d 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 added that Djokovic\u2019s message was \u201cmilitant, very political, and must not be repeated\u201d.<\/p>\n
French Open organizers indicated in a statement issued Tuesday that no rules had been broken, without mentioning Djokovic by name, saying: \u201cOccasionally, discussions about international news events enter the realm of the tournament, which is understandable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kosovo Olympic Committee asked the International Olympic Committee to open disciplinary proceedings against Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic for, as they said, inciting political tensions with his statement that \u201cKosovo is the heart of Serbia\u201d, made at the French Open tournament. The head of the Kosovo Olympic Committee Ismet Krasniqi said \u201cDjokovic has again promoted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":54332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[2471,2484,300,1098,243,151,2203,301,2047],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n