For Djokovic, it’s tennis abroad, politics at home
This week's roundup: Djokovic becomes target of Serbian gov; UFC White House event confirmed; Ronaldo stars in Saudi tourism ad; Gulf states purchase F1 champs; Canada sports system "broken."
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I’ve never been much of a Novak Djokovic fan.
With the least compelling style of his Big 4 contemporaries, compounded by his stubborn anti-vaccine stance, embrace of wellness conspiracies, and fervent nationalism, there was little for me to enjoy.
So imagine my surprise when I saw that Djokovic was among the voices backing the student-led protests in Serbia against the country’s ruling party.
The protests erupted in November 2024 following the collapse of a concrete and glass canopy in a recently renovated railway station that killed 16 people, including two children, in Serbia’s second largest city of Novi Sad. The demonstrators blamed cronyism and corruption within Serbia’s government and construction industry for the accident.
Since then, a student-led movement of hundreds of thousands of Serbians have held mass demonstrations, occupied university campuses and blockaded roads. They developed a rich symbolic language: a blood-red open hand, blank sheets of paper, public readings of the Constitution. Their peaceful activism continued to gather strength, morphing over nine months into one of the largest protest movements in decades.
Djokovic publicly backed the protestors on social media, writing in December: “As someone who deeply believes in the power of youth and their desire for a better future, I believe it’s important that their voices are heard.” The following month, he dedicated an Australian Open victory to a student who had been struck by a car during a protest, and in March, he shared a photo of one of the largest demonstrations to date—attended by roughly 300,000 people—captioning it: “History, amazing.”
He further signalled his solidarity at the Belgrade derby basketball match, where he was seen wearing a jumper emblazoned with the slogan: “Students are champions.”
Djokovic has not explicitly spoken out against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. In fact, the two maintained a friendly relations over the years. In 2022, the tennis champion met with Vucic in a public appearance, thanking his administration as well as his fellow citizens for their support during the time he was detained and deported from Australia over his vaccination status. However, that has not stopped the Serbian government and its loyalists from taking aim at the national icon.
Over the past few months, Serbian authorities have reportedly launched a smear campaign focused on Djokovic and award-winning director Emir Kusturica. Serbian loyalists and pro-government media outlets labelled Djokovic a “disgrace” for supporting a “colour revolution.” The 24-time Grand Slam champion is now reportedly considering a move to Greece.
Meanwhile, protests against Vucic have intensified following several tragic incidents in Serbia, including high-profile shootings. What began as a call for accountability morphed into demands for early elections to bring an end to Vucic’s 11-year rule over the country.
As anger in the streets mounted, Vucic’s response grew increasingly authoritarian. He launched a crackdown on civil society groups receiving foreign funds while more than a hundred university and high school professors were sacked for their support of the students, replaced by loyalists. Mobs attacked protestors and reportedly looted businesses owned by Vucic’s opponents. Yet as the protests continued to demand his removal, Vucic still found the time to address Djokovic’s support of the protests.
“I will never say a bad word against him. He can support my opponents, but to say anything bad about him – I never will. It would be bad, stupid,' Vucic told local Serbian media. “We will defeat that policy in the elections, but I will always cheer for him with all my heart.”
As Djokovic prepares to face his young rival Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open semifinal Friday, events at home loom larger than the match. Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the tournament, he acknowledged that Serbia’s escalating crisis has pushed sport to the background for many citizens.
“There is a serious escalation—we are literally on the verge of civil war,” he said. “I hope the situation will calm down a bit, but there is no indication of that.”
News
UFC White House event is happening
If you ever doubted we are living in the dumbest timeline, UFC CEO confirmed that the UFC will officially move forward with an event at the White House on July 4, 2026—the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
"We had the meeting at the White House. It could not have gone better," White said via social media on Thursday. "This is going to be awesome. The White House fight is on. I'll have more details on that in the next couple of weeks, but we got it done today."
What a time to be alive…
Dana White Allegedly Owes Red Rock Resorts $25-$50 Million
Speaking of Dana White, the UFC head honcho reportedly owes Red Rocks Resorts a lot of money.
From the article:
The source added it’s possible, though not confirmed, the UFC boss owes the Las Vegas-based casino operator as much as $50 million for credit extended to him so that he could play high-limit baccarat and blackjack at the Red Rock Casino Resort in Summerlin, Nev. A request for comment to Red Rock Resorts was extended by Casino.org on Friday, August 29, and wasn’t acknowledged prior to the publication of this article.
White’s wagering exploits are the stuff of legend as he took Fontainebleau for $1.2 million in baccarat winnings in June. He previously boasted about raking in an estimated $26–$27 million at Caesars Palace between January and March 2024. Recent social media chatter indicates that in July, White confessed to being down $8 million at an unidentified casino, while another post from the same Instagram account implies White and his crew quickly departed an undisclosed gaming venue following a rough run at a high-limit baccarat table.
Ronaldo stars in Saudi tourism ad
Eager to prove he can do everything Messi did, Ronaldo recently starred in an ad for the Saudi Tourism Authority showcasing the kingdom’s upcoming event schedule.
At the end of the video, Ronaldo declares: “I came for football, I stayed for more.”
Chills…
Canada's sports system is 'broken' and suffers from widespread abuse: Federal commission
In other news that should not come as a surprise but remains depressing all the same, a federal commission released a scathing preliminary report probing systemic abuse in Canadian sports.
"Maltreatment in sport, including physical punishment, sexual assault, training while injured, humiliation, intimidation, isolation tactics, failure to provide medical care, discrimination and exploitation continue to permeate at all levels," said Justice Lise Maisonneuve, who leads the Future of Sport in Canada Commission.
The entire report can be read here
Bahrain, Abu Dhabi take full ownership of F1 champs McLaren
I admit, I have not paid enough attention to motorsports—something that I intend to remedy—I couldn’t help but notice the news that McLaren Racing, the reigning F1 champion, is now completely owned by sovereign wealth funds run by Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The news isn’t exactly surprising. Bahrain’s Mumtalakat and Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings actually bought the remaining minority stakes in McLaren, primarily those held by a US-based investment consortium that initially invested in 2020. The latest transaction simply cleaned up the ownership structure, with Bahrain maintaining its majority shareholder stake.
Nevertheless, it continues the trend of significant investment from the Gulf region into Formula 1, one of the fastest growing sports in the world with global audience.
What I’m Reading
10-Minute Challenge: Monet in Venice [New York Times]
Monet is using his color and brushstrokes to describe the character of the represented objects, Mr. Roberts said. His water looks wet. His sky looks airy. His stone looks solid.
The brushstrokes may feel dashed off and effortless, but Monet labored over these paintings. He started them outside in Venice, then brought them back to his studio in Giverny and worked on them as a series.
“He was grappling with this paradox,” Ms. Small said. “He always wanted to capture an instant — the moment that the light flickered on the water in this very specific way, under these very specific lighting conditions — but it took him a really long time.”
Saving a New Orleans Banksy [Oxford American]
In 2008 Banksy made a trip to New Orleans, leaving behind seventeen works scattered across the cityscape. It was three years after Katrina, and the murals commented on the citizenry’s ongoing struggles. Graffiti is ephemeral, and some of the art didn’t survive. One piece, depicting a boy using a life preserver as a swing, was left on the exterior wall of the Fat Cat, a biker bar in the Lower Ninth Ward. A number of photos of the stencil, titled alternatively Swinger or Boy on a Life Preserver Swing, can be found online.
Ronnie Fredericks, a dump truck driver, saw the work before it was covered with red spray paint, then painted over again with mauve house paint. The Fat Cat was demolished in 2010 and Fredericks, while driving by the site, remembered the mural. He didn’t want the Boy to end up in a landfill, so he decided to save him. He loaded twenty-eight cinderblocks into his truck and drove off into the night.
Museum of Color [Emergence Magazine]
Cochineal comes in vibrant reddish hues, like scarlet, crimson, carmine, and orange, and is known for its luster and longevity. To make cochineal pigment, brush plump, wingless females that have just made a waxy cocoon into bags and kill them by immersion in scalding water; exposure to steam, sunlight, or the heat of an oven; or rolling them on a wooden board without popping. If needed, leave their bodies to dry in the sun, then pulverize the dead bugs, and combine the powder with liquid. Seventy thousand female nocheztli make one pound of cochineal; harvesting the insects is tedious.
ICYMI
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