Serbian Foreign Minister Uses Tennis to Raise Country’s Profile
© “DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”
Serbia is attempting to join the European Union and foreign minister Vuk Jeremic sees tennis as a way to increase the country’s profile. The 36- year-old was recently elected as the president of the new Association of Tennis Professionals of Serbia with the support of Novak Djokovic’s family. He may be the first sitting foreign minister in world history to take such a position.
“Tennis has become one of the most powerful tools of public diplomacy for our country,” he told the Huffington Post. “Serbia has become well-known for tennis. Novak Djokovic is ranked the world’s top player, and we have an excellent national team that is the defending world champion. In ladies’ tennis we have a number of strong players as well. Because tennis has become such a powerful tool of soft power, it has to be supported at the state level. Foreign affairs are about representing your country abroad, and for us one of the best ways of doing it is through tennis.”
Djokovic has become a symbol of international success in Serbia, as have WTA players Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. The foreign ministers indicated that his government will provide financial backing for tennis.
“Djokovic has been a role model,” he said. “With our new tennis federation we’d like to further that enthusiasm for tennis in order to make a system that will produce a new generation of players. Producing a champion is part luck, but it’s much easier if there’s a strong system like there is in other countries.”
© “DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”
Topics: Novak Djokovic, Serbia
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