The quest for his 23rd Grand Slam on Parisian ochre, a title that would represent one of the greatest feats in the history of sport, has not extinguished this provocative fire that characterizes the Serb, whose career is punctuated by controversies, misunderstandings, missteps and misunderstandings.

After his match won Monday against American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1), the Serb, armed with his marker, wrote a few words in Cyrillic on the camera of the Philippe-Chatrier court.

Words by way of political message: "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia! Stop the violence." This exit of the world N.3 comes as the north of Kosovo has been the scene for several days of clashes between members of the international force led by NATO (KFOR) and Serb demonstrators who demand the departure of Albanian mayors from the locality.

'Not a politician'

The player then justified himself in a press conference in front of Serbian journalists. "This is a sensitive subject. I feel an additional responsibility as a public figure and as the son of a man born in Kosovo to support all the Serbian people. It is the least I can do. I am not a politician and I do not intend to engage in a debate," he said.

However, this is not the first time the player has spoken about Kosovo: in January 2008, after his first Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open, he said: "Kosovo is Serbia." Serbia, supported by its Russian and Chinese allies, has never recognised the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province and tensions regularly erupt between Belgrade and Pristina.

The Roland-Garros code of ethics prohibits political or religious positions. But the FFT published a rather cryptic statement, without addressing the question of a possible sanction: "The debates that cross the international news are sometimes invited on the sidelines of the tournament, it is understandable," simply said the federation.

"Djokovic's sentence is not a surprise," Lukas Macek, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute based in Paris, told AFP. Novak is someone who has ties to certain Serbian nationalist circles, and his positions often go in the direction of the nationalists. But on the question of Kosovo, even for very moderate Serbs, we feel that it remains a wound, a delicate and painful subject."

A mural with the effigy of Djokovic was vandalized in the night from Monday to Tuesday on a building in Orahovac, a small town in southwestern Kosovo where several hundred Serbs live alongside Albanians, the majority, according to Serbian national television.

"I think there is a part of Serbian public opinion that sees Djokovic as a sporting icon. He has a popularity that goes beyond political preferences. After, there is another Djokovic, who annoys some of his fans and who exalt others, and it was particularly visible on the vaccine part, "says the researcher.

"Provocative side"

His stance against the Covid vaccine has cost him dearly, with several days of detention and his hyper-publicized deportation from Australia in January 2022. An incredible sequence founding a conspiracy stature for some.

"He mostly has positions that are not in the +Western mainstream+. There is a provocative side to him, undeniably, analyzes Lukas Macek. His +Covid-Tour+ organized in ex-Yugosalvie in the middle of the pandemic, which turned into a cluster, perfectly illustrates these rough edges."

His disqualification in his eighth final of the 2020 US Open after unintentionally sending a ball at a line judge in a gesture of anger had already put Djokovic on a short list of players with a tempered character, which his many racket throws had let pierce.

Behind the scenes, his attempts to reorganize the circuit did not have the desired echo either. His personality, probably an enigma for many, "seems to cut the bridges of popularity at the height of his talent," said a few years ago a tournament director. This judgment could perhaps change in case of victory Porte d'Auteuil.

© 2023 AFP