{"id":1756,"date":"2026-02-13T19:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:00:56","slug":"smear-campaign-target-novak-djokovics-decision-on-greece-relocation-with-family-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1756","title":{"rendered":"Smear campaign target Novak Djokovic\u2019s decision on Greece relocation with family confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic moved to Greece with his family last year after he was the target of a smear campaign from the Serbian government, and the tennis icon\u2019s relocation has now been officially confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>In September last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/novak-djokovic\">Djokovic<\/a> and his wife, Jelena, started living in Athens with their children, Stefan and Tara.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-opens-up-moving-to-greece-from-serbia-athens-tournament\">opened up about the move<\/a> in an interview with Greek outlet SDNA in November ahead of the inaugural Hellenic Championship \u2014 an ATP tournament in Athens organised by the Djokovic family.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old said that moving to Greece with his family \u201cwasn\u2019t something I had planned for a long time\u201d, explaining that things had changed in his life \u201cboth privately and professionally\u201d in the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-time major champion stressed that the priority for him and his wife was for their children to grow up in \u201cthe most beneficial environment\u201d, and he added that they felt \u201cwelcome\u201d in Greece.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Thanos Plevris \u2014 the Greek minister for immigration and asylum \u2014 took to X\/Twitter to reveal that Djokovic \u201cwishes to stay with his family in our country\u201d as he shared a photo of himself sitting with the Serbian.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-220609\" class=\"wp-image-220609 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Greek-minister-Djokovic-tweet.jpg\" alt=\"Novak Djokovic with Greek minister Thanos Plevris\" width=\"752\" height=\"770\" \/>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Novak Djokovic with Thanos Plevris \u2013 the Greek minister for immigration and asylum<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWith great pleasure, we welcomed to the Ministry the great athlete and man @DjokerNole\u2069 (Djokovic\u2019s X account),\u201d Plevris wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an honour for us that he wishes to stay with his family in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Novak Djokovic News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-aura-destroyed-rafael-nadal-patrick-mouratoglou-story\"><strong>\u2018Novak Djokovic destroyed Rafael Nadal\u2019 \u2013 Patrick Mouratoglou\u2019s telling story about Serb\u2019s \u2018aura\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/when-will-novak-djokovic-play-next-after-withdrawing-from-qatar-open\"><strong>When will Novak Djokovic play next after withdrawing from Qatar Open?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>The reported reason Djokovic and his family left Serbia<\/h2>\n<p>Djokovic has not explicitly stated the reason for his relocation from his home city of Belgrade, but it reportedly involves the Serbian government.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2024, Djokovic \u2013 who is Serbia\u2019s biggest national icon \u2013 expressed support for the student-led protests against Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic and the government as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>The previous month, mass protests took place in Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia, after the collapse of a railway station canopy killed 16 people, with demonstrators accusing Serbian police and local authorities of negligence and corruption. Protests had spread to 400 cities by March and remain ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs someone who deeply believes in the power of young people and their desire for a better future, I consider it important that their voice is heard,\u201d Djokovic wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSerbia has enormous potential, and educated youth is its greatest strength. What we all need is understanding and respect. With you, Novak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to journalist Jaschar Dugalic, reporting for German news outlet Neue Zurcher Zeitung, the Serbian government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/novak-djokovic-smear-campaign-attacked-serbian-media-government\">\u201cset its sights\u201d on Djokovic as a result of his stance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dugalic reported that \u201cregime-friendly media\u201d in Serbia has attacked the character of Djokovic, with tabloid newspaper Informer branding Djokovic a \u201cdisgrace\u201d in response to his public support for protests.<\/p>\n<p>After it was reported that Djokovic was considering moving to Athens with his family, the same outlet labelled him \u201ca false patriot who had presented himself as a symbol of Serbia for years only to now flee to Greece.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/casper-ruud-carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-djokovic-nadal-federer-comparison\">Alcaraz and Sinner\u2019s rival reveals how they \u2018bring something different\u2019 to Djokovic, Nadal, Federer<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovics-relocation-greece-confirmed-target-smear-campaign-serbia\">Smear campaign target Novak Djokovic\u2019s decision on Greece relocation with family confirmed<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/\">Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic moved to Greece with his family last year after he was the target of a smear campaign from the Serbian government, and the tennis icon\u2019s relocation has now been officially confirmed. In September last year, Djokovic and his wife, Jelena, started living in Athens with their children, Stefan and Tara. Djokovic opened up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}