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Novak Djokovic and his Australian backhand, maybe that’s a detail for you…

Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic with a fan upon arrival at Belgrade airport on January 17, 2022.

Winning return

After eleven days of suspense, five hearings before the judge and two visa cancellations, return to sender. Expelled from Australia, Novak Djokovic, renamed “Novax” for his anti-vaccine positions against Covid-19, returned to Serbia on January 17. He was able to see that his gesticulations at the end of the world did not affect his popularity, on the contrary. While Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić attacked Australian leaders (“They humiliated themselves, Djokovic can return to his country with his head held high”), fans defied the principles of physical distancing for a selfie.

Read also The shadow of Novak Djokovic still hangs over the Australian Open

Solid colors

In the absence of a health passport, Novak Djokovic holds here in his hands a Serbian passport. The opportunity to recall that, since 1981, all members of the European Union, with the exception of Croatia, have used red passports. At the time, it took six years of tough negotiations for this choice to be confirmed. To the great displeasure of Great Britain, which campaigned for the color lilac and which did not fail to abandon red in favor of blue, once Brexit was ratified.

Crocodile dandy

On Djokovic’s chest, the emblematic almost century-old crocodile. In 1923, tennis champion René Lacoste was in Boston to play a Davis Cup match, when he spotted a crocodile skin suitcase in a store window. His coach promises to give it to him if he wins. The story reached the ears of an American journalist who wrote the next day that Lacoste, despite the defeat, fought “like a crocodile” on the court… Ten years later, when the brand was launched, the choice of logo was obvious.

Read also Lacoste, the revival of the crocodile

blue hour

On the left wrist of the champion, another sponsor. The Serbian champion wears a Hublot watch, more precisely the Big Bang Integral model. To justify its price (20,000 euros), this watch obviously has a lot of remarkable features, the most spectacular of them being its material. The Big Bang Integral is in fact made of high-tech ceramic, a material based on extremely hard sintered zirconium at very high temperatures. As much as Djokovic’s skull? Let’s not exaggerate.

Electric package

Finally, note that the Belgrade airport in which Novak Djokovic is located bears the name of Nikola Tesla. The Serbian engineer, who inspired Elon Musk the name of his brand, worked on electrical energy. At the end of the XIXe century, he notably developed the first alternators allowing the birth of electrical distribution networks in alternating current. Holder of some 300 patents covering a total of 125 inventions, he is considered one of the most illustrious figures in the history of Serbia. But, in his time, science was not subject to debate.

Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Novak Djokovic’s stay in Australia could cost him dearly

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