Highlights
MORE THAN SPORTS
Infected with victory
“It would be too simple to say that the reason why Serbs are so successful while other countries spend millions for insignificant achievements lies in the fact that Serbs are better and braver or in the fact that they come from a destroyed country, which is putting together again. However, those moments are very important”, says the London “Times”
 “The Serbian tennis miracle” shook the world. During the French Open Tennis Championship, the famous “Roland Garros” there more world media were concentrated on Serbia than if there were another new guided war in the country. Positive effects were bigger than all promoting campaigns of the Serbian country during the last years.
Ana Ivanović’s finals, singles semi-finals of Jelena Janković and Novak Đoković, semi-finals and finals of Nenad Zimonjić in doubles and mix, the victory of Janko Tipsarević over the former world racket number 1, Marat Saphin — those have all inspired the most powerful world media to talk and write about the “explosion of Serbian tennis”, “magic moments for Serbia”, “miracle of the Balkans”.
A short comparative analysis is more than clear. From 36 French, 19 American, 18 Italian, 16 Argentinean or 13 Czech players at the beginning of the tournament, no one got to the finals. From 24 Russians, there were two, from 17 Spanish players, only one. From six Serbian players, three of them reached the semi-finals and the finals! Besides, one player, the fourth one, made it to the finals in two categories (doubles and mix).
The global TV network CNN dedicated a 10 minute report to Serbian players. Many other media were investigating the “secret root of their success”. Novak Đoković was asked if there were an intelligent secret system behind this “amazing success” and he answered, with a smile, that “there is no system, but it should be made, there are only people”: “The secret lies in the people”. The London Times, whose tone even passed the limits of sports, says:
“It would be too simple to say that the reason why Serbs are so successful, while other countries spend millions for insignificant achievements lies in the fact that Serbs are better and braver or in the fact that they come from a destroyed country, which is putting together again. However, those moments are very important.”
Other western media are writing about “the Serbian tennis revenge for bombing”, which is confirmed by the fact that today’s young champions “made their first tennis steps right at the time when their country was bombed”. In favor of that fact, an old joke of the tennis trainer Igor Tomašević was quoted as well: “While you were bombing us, our children played tennis. The stronger your attack was, stronger they hit the ball. There lies the secret of success of Serbian tennis.”
In the interview from Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, which was cited many times, Ana Ivanović said that in 1999, when she was starting her career, she trained from 7 to 9 am, because it was calm in the morning and there were no bombs falling on Belgrade. She was asked to explain the charms and the witty spirit of “Serbian tennis ambassadors”, as she called them, and she talked about the open heart and the cheerfulness of her people, about their tendency to play and their humor, and then she concluded:
“This is how we were born.” |
