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PARIS — In a way, like cartoon giants, they tower over two continents this week, bowing to each other from either side of the Atlantic. One praises the other from an American press conference podium toward Europe, and the other hurls hosannas from a Paris press conference podium toward Denver. Meanwhile, a detail calls: Both hail from the country, which ranks 108th in terms of population and 117th in terms of land area.
Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets reach their first NBA Finals, Novak Djokovic is targeting his 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title at the French Open, Jokic’s Game 1 stats give the creeps (8-on-12 shooting, 27 points , 14 assists, 10 rebounds), Djokovic’s third round oozes with the amazing mental toughness that makes him Djokovic, and all the while something seems clear: the sport in Serbia has something to offer.
Sport in Serbia really has something special to offer.
“We love sports; No, we really love sport,” said Atila Frankl, one of five Serbian flag bearers who cheered on Djokovic from an upper deck on Friday. “NBA, the first thing I woke up this morning was checking the results. Okay, triple-double, 11 points difference, good. We love sport and that’s why this week is great.”
He points out that they’ve had other amazing weeks of multiple cynosures — Olympic water polo, Olympic volleyball — and that the basketball fanbase clearly looks back to the days before Vlade Divac or before Peja Stojakovic and the days of “black-and-white television.” goes back In tennis, the great Monica Seles stormed in from Novi Sad (the second largest city), before Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic came later. It’s just like Frankl; his wife Sandra; his 11-year-old daughter Lejla; and his 10-year-old son Luka descended the stairs of Court Philippe Chatrier after Djokovic’s 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-2 in the wind against the rugged 34th place Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Spain, they knew this was a sporting moment.
It’s a moment when a reporter asked Jokic about Djokovic after the Nuggets beat the Lakers in Los Angeles, and the 28-year-old former farm boy from the small town of Sombor made fun of the 36-year-old man from the big city of Sombor . City of Belgrade. “I don’t have his [phone] To be honest he’s a number, the two-time MVP said, “but he’s a guy who represents Serbia in a much bigger scene and he’s a Serbian ambassador and he’s really an idol for the kids in Serbia, not just on stage.” Court and doing things from his foundation. He’s the guy to go to [to], ‘I want to be like him.’ He’s doing something great for children, for Serbia, for everything, so we can’t be compared.”
On Wednesday night, Djokovic lashed out at Jokic, reinforcing a reality Djokovic listeners have known for years: when he broaches a favorite topic, he starts in block paragraphs. (It’s not hard.) He called Miami’s Jimmy Butler “a great guy” and said, “I admire him a lot,” then rolled out, “Incredible.”
“He’s regular-season MVP for two years in a row,” Djokovic said of Jokic. “Now he will probably be MVP of the playoffs and finals. He’s an incredibly intelligent basketball player. I’m obviously not a basketball expert, but I love basketball. I follow it very much. You know, I’ve obviously been watching and listening closely to what people have to say about the way he plays basketball. It’s so impressive to hear LeBron [James] and, you know, the greats of the game [Shaquille O’Neal], Magic Johnson, talks about him and praises him. It’s huge.
“The NBA league is the largest and most important basketball league in the world. To be the best player in this league three years in a row is just amazing. Coming from a small country and small town in our country, his beginnings were very humble and he still remained a very humble, very humble, very simple guy, a family man. He loves his horses. You know, he’s into horses and I find that very funny, but at the same time I respect it a lot because he’s sticking to his values, his beliefs and what’s close to his heart. He doesn’t mind what people think of him. Chapeau [hat tip]. You know, kudos to him. I’m a big fan of his. I hope he wins the final.”
First place in all of this would be Olga Danilovic, a 24-year-old Serbian tennis player at No. 105, who has just reached her first third round of a Grand Slam. She smiled as she said, “I’m still in the same tournament with Novak.” She is also the daughter of Predrag Danilovic, who played 95 NBA games for the Heat and Dallas Mavericks in the mid-1990s and chairs the Serbian Basketball Federation.
“I’ll definitely follow that,” said Olga Danilovic. “It’s a bit difficult to follow them when they play at night. But we all know that Jokic is the best player in the world right now and we’re very, very proud to have him. I think we are a sports country in general, and in Serbia we say that we are also a basketball country.
“My father played and represented Yugoslavia and whatever [after the breakup of Yugoslavia], but having Jokic and having someone who represents his way and character, I love the guy. I honestly admire him so much. And the way he is so spontaneous but also such a nice and humble person. And I think he’s stayed — he’s, you know, himself, and I think that’s the most important part of whatever we do in general, not just basketball, just tennis, in life in general.”
In the kind of internationalism NBA commissioner Adam Silver would love, she even boldly chimed in the 2023 NBA MVP debate — Joel Embiid finished first, Jokic second — when she said, “And I mean, just him being MVP twice…”
“. . . should have been three times, but…”
Next: “It’s just unreal.”
People might write dissertations about how a small country could have a week like that, but Frankl, the fan of the upper deck and the flags, tried. He is a Zurich based Marketing Manager from Subotica, a Serbian town near Sombor, close to the Hungarian border to the north and the Croatian to the west.
“What we can say is that it’s not a product of the system,” he said, while mentioning the achievements of the water polo and basketball systems. “So it’s not like the country has a system. It is truly a product of individual talent coupled with hard work coupled with resilience and a character of resilience.”
Resilience comes from adversity and in this generation, as the Djokovic stories tell forever, from childhood at war. “You build resilience,” Frankl said, “because you’re not raised with a silver spoon.” Resilience is built because it’s a tough country economically.”
While this reality is widespread in other countries without giving in to this type of week, Frankl had a different thought a moment later after sharing a photo of himself and his children posing with Jokic. “I said talent, hard work, resilience,” he said. “Probably the fourth – love of sport. We love soccer [soccer]. … We love basketball; We are doing quite well. We love volleyball, water polo, tennis. There is a great love of sport in the country – among men and women.”
And with time zones and the moment in sports, there’s not that much sleep.
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