Serbia says: Hello tennis, water polo; goodbye football

By Boris Babic Jan 29, 2012, 20:42 GMT

Belgarde - Sunday was a massive day for Serbian sport fans, most of who watched television for nine straight hours and saw Novak Djokovic defend his Australian Open title, the water polo team lift the European title and the handball squad lose in the Euro final.

'These are the news of the day,' said the anchor on national television RTS, and then went on to list the sport achievements for Sunday.

No Kosovo, no economic crisis, only news of the nation's old and new sporting heroes.

Serbian fans had hoped for '3 out of 3' from the big finals on Sunday, but with the handball team's loss to Denmark, they quickly coined the phrase '2 1/2 out of 3.'

Sport dominated not only the news in Serbia on Sunday, but virtually every aspect of life. Belgrade's streets were deserted during the live broadcasts of tennis, water polo and handball from Melbourne, Eindhoven in the Netherlands and, finally, the Belgrade Arena, starting at 9:30 am (0830 GMT).

As soon as the handball Euro ended, a crowd of cheering people braved the minus-5-degrees Celsius temperature and strong winds to celebrate.

Many more will show up on Monday evening in the park in front of the Belgrade city hall, for the formal homecoming of the handballers and water polo players.

Many of those who watched the matches and later stayed home immediately took to Facebook, Twitter and other social media to comment, share and celebrate.

World number one Djokovic, who overcame Spanish archrival Rafael Nadal in a grueling, six-hour final, received the widest support in the region, which came from the entire former Yugoslavia.

'Nole, you beast,' wrote Macedonian Jasmina Mijic. TV Slovenia's former chief sport commentator, Igor Bergant, tweeted in Serbian, and in verse: 'Down under, great Nole over Nadal. Good luck and thanks!'

The water polo final divided the fans in the Balkans, as it pitted Montenegro against Serbia - the small republic was in a federation with Serbia until 2006 and many of the stars from both sides competed together until then.

Serbia's triumph actually drew some taunts from fans who posted, 'Congratulations to varsity team for the win against junior varsity.' Montenegro, however, won the European title in its first international tournament in 2008 - against Serbia.

Despite the handball loss, at least partly owing to the fact that Serbian handball has been in the doldrums for years and that the other two finals were conquered, the atmosphere remained cheerful.

The handball Euro in Serbia, however, had been marred by hooligans, with the violence particularly targeting Croatia and its fans.

The Serbian team may have paid the first - and possibly not the last - fine for it: One of the key players, Zarko Sesum, missed the final because of an eye injury, caused by a bottle that a Serbian hooligan threw at Croatia's coach in the semi-final on Friday.

In any case, the nation that liked to describe itself as 'crazy for football,' on Sunday turned its head further away from its football squad, comprised of big stars who steadily fail to produce any results.

Instead, Serbs are increasingly celebrating the likes of Djokovic and, in money terms the far more modest women's and men's volleyball teams - both European titleholders, the water polo team and, since this week, the handballers.

Ljubomir, who was reacting to a story on the B92 news site, wrote: I'm proud of athletes in Serbia. By the way, football isn't a sport in Serbia.'