Since the start of the Djokovic affair, Nina Markovic Khaze has lost three kilos. And she doesn’t usually watch tennis. Her thing, an Australian of Serbian origin, is “Nole”. She is mobilized, like the whole small Serbian community living between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
For the administrator of the “Serbs in Melbourne” Facebook page, “all Serbs are on Novak’s side”, whose visa was revoked for a second time on Friday due to the Australian administration’s doubts about his reasons for not being vaccinated against Covid-19.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, including a good third 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 flabbergasted when she learned that Djokovic’s was canceled last week at the airport: “Like my compatriots, I first felt shock and disbelief.” His tension rose when the player was taken to a detention centre. “You should know that this is a symbolic date, since it is our Christmas Eve [orthodoxe, nldr]. Detaining him on that day, which is the holiest day in our calendar, was frightening.” Nina remembers.
“The atmosphere is unhealthy”
“When we saw he was locked up with criminals, we felt compelled to support him,” explains Una Matovic, a 44-year-old Australian of Serbian origin living in Brisbane. 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. “The supporters of Djokovic are not all Serbs, says Nina. But our community has personally and physically felt the effects of his confinement. I heard a granny say that she had refused to eat on Christmas, out of solidarity with him. Myself, I lost three kilos. However, I do not watch tennis!
Welded 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 had no intention of hurting. Everyone got carried away and the press added to it,” Una laments. Who brandishes the one “Return Serbian” from Daily Telegraph, exacerbating the xenophobic tendencies of some. Since the beginning of the saga, and with this political-sanitary polarization, “yes, there are threats”, provides communication. Compatriots have also filed a complaint. “The atmosphere is unhealthy, Nina insists. She reminds us of the stigma we suffered in the 90s. It is especially hard for the older ones. But we follow the rules.”
“Many Serbs will want to leave Australia”
All for tennis. But how did we get here? “There is collective hysteria linked to the pandemic – but that should not affect Novak Djokovic, our child of the country”, rages Una, who is also a tennis fan. On the TikTok network, Tommyvangelvoski recalls that Djokovic gave money during the fires that ravaged Australia in 2020 and “that he is not stupid”. He asks: “Why would he have worked so hard to become number 1 and screw everything up by coming without permission?”
On Friday, while the Minister of Immigration has just 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 to Brisbane. But Djokovic is not to blame for this debacle. He just came to play tennis.