Djokovic: 'I Have Always Represented My People, Not the Government'

Novak Djokovic was asked one question about home at his Paris Masters press conference, and he answered it with the clearest political statement of his career. The 39-year-old said he is patriotic but has always represented his people, not the government, welcomed the student movement’s election victory as a fresh start for Serbia, and declined to dwell on the past. It was a short answer, delivered before a tournament he needs to win matches at, and it travelled further than anything else he said in Paris.

What did Djokovic actually say?

Three sentences, each doing different work. SuperSport quotes him: “I’m not going to discuss or comment on the past. You know, past is past. Hopefully this is a fresh start for the country.” Then the line that made the story: “I am patriotic, but I have always represented my people and not the government. There is a big difference in that.” And the closing note: “I’m happy with these changes, and hopefully, you know, things will be great and prosperous for our country in the future.” The question came from a reporter who had recently been to Serbia and spoke from his own experience of the animosity toward the country’s most decorated athlete, EssentiallySports reports. Djokovic did not name any politician, and he did not attack the outgoing leadership directly. He drew a distinction instead, between a people and a government, and placed himself on one side of it.

What changed in Serbia on October 25?

The election that made the question unavoidable. EssentiallySports reports the student-backed Student List won a little over 53 percent of the vote and 140 of the 250 seats in a snap parliamentary election on October 25, while the coalition behind Aleksandar Vucic, prime minister or president since 2014, took about 39 percent and 104 seats. Vucic conceded. The official result is yet to be declared, and the new parliament has 30 days, extendable to 90, to form a government. SuperSport adds the longer arc: after nearly two years of anti-government protests, the student-backed list achieved a historic victory in snap elections called by Vucic himself, ending 14 years in power for his party. Djokovic’s press conference came a week later, in a different country, but the question followed him there because he is the most famous Serbian alive, and the election was, in part, a story about who gets to claim him.

Why does the student movement matter to him?

Because he backed it early, when backing it cost him standing at home. SuperSport reports Djokovic had publicly supported the student protests on several occasions, and that those interventions saw him fall out of favour with the Serbian authorities and become a target of pro-government tabloids. The movement grew out of the November 2024 collapse of a concrete canopy over a renovated railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. In December 2024, Djokovic posted in support of the students, writing that he valued the power of young people and their desire for a better future, EssentiallySports reports. Last week, he praised the Student List for creating a sense of pride in Serbia, according to the Express live blog. He had long avoided direct political comment, SuperSport notes, which is what makes Monday’s answer a break: a man who spent two years supporting a movement without naming its opponents has now named the distinction at the heart of it.

What happened when he backed the students before?

He was called a disgrace and a false patriot by pro-government media, EssentiallySports reports, after that December 2024 post. That is the context for the reporter’s question in Paris, and for Djokovic’s refusal to litigate the past in his answer. He did not defend himself against the tabloid attacks, and he did not list grievances. He said the past is past, and pointed forward. The restraint matters because it leaves the statement hard to dismiss as a settling of scores: it reads as a position about representation, not a complaint about coverage. For a player who has spent 20 years as a national symbol, as EssentiallySports puts it, the shift from symbol to spokesman is the story. Symbols get claimed by governments. Spokesmen choose who they speak for.

Has he left Serbia for good?

He has not said so, and the reporting is careful on this point. EssentiallySports reports he and his wife Jelena moved their family from Belgrade to Athens in September 2025, and that a month later the Serbia Open in Belgrade was gone from the calendar, replaced by the Hellenic Championship in Athens, an ATP 250 run by the Djokovic family with his brother Djordje as tournament director. Djokovic won that tournament’s first edition on November 8, 2025, beating Lorenzo Musetti for his 101st tour title. But EssentiallySports is explicit that he did not state whether he will return to Serbia, and was not even asked directly. Journalists in Serbia have described his time in Greece as an exile that could come to an end, but Djokovic spoke only about the country’s future and hoping it prospers. That gap, between what others project onto him and what he actually said, is worth keeping open. He announced a hope, not a homecoming.

What does this mean for his Paris week?

On paper, nothing, and in practice, everything about how the week will be covered. Djokovic went into the Paris Masters seeded tenth, without a first-round bye for the first time since his 2005 debut, drawn against Basel champion Valentin Vacherot, who beat him in last year’s Shanghai semi-finals. He needs a semi-final run to keep his ATP Finals hopes alive, a chase already complicated by the row over tournament director Cedric Pioline questioning his logic. The press conference was, in theory, about that chase, and about the ball complaints that followed Alexander Zverev to Paris and the wider Turin race that Jannik Sinner’s season-ending knee absence has left open. Instead, the week now has a second storyline, one Djokovic did not seek but did not dodge either. He has argued with officials before, most recently over a video review in Beijing, but this was not an argument about a call. It was a declaration about who he plays for, delivered in a city where he has won seven titles, a week after his country changed governments. What happens next is not a match result. It is whether he says more, whether Serbia’s new parliament takes shape within its 30-day window, and whether the distinction he drew in Paris holds when he is next asked about home.