Serbian tennis player Dejana Radanovic used her Instagram to express her bad experience after spending three weeks in India. Her comments were criticized as racist by social media users. She later clarified that it was not racially motivated, but she "would never like to return" ever again. (More Sports News)
In a series of Instagram stories - all about her experience in India, the Serbian mentioned, "Adios India. See you never ever ever EVER again," with a photo of India's airport. The reason behind the goodbye is, the uncivilized culture she had to face during her stay.
In one of the stories, she talked about Indian food, traffic and hygiene saying, "I didn’t like India – the country. I didn’t like the food, traffic, or hygiene (worms in the food, yellow pillows and dirty bed linen in the hotel, not knowing how to use the roundabout etc.)"
Within a minute, these remarks began to gain attention from users on social media, with some alleging that they were racially biased. Nonetheless, for this, the Serbian posted again, asserting that she has friends of all colours and all nationalities.
She wrote, "If you come to my country, Serbia, and you don’t like all those same things, that means you are a racist??? What the hell does that have to do with racism?! Absolute NONSENSE". And for the people of India, Radanovic has no negative feelings, she enjoyed their company.
However, she continued to grab headlines for another Instagram story, in which she once again criticized India, this time comparing the country to Germany and implying that she found Germany to be more civilized. She stated, "Hello civilization. Only those who have spent three weeks in a place like India can understand the feeling."
Radanovic's comments contradict the goodwill shown by her Serbian compatriot Novak Djokovic, who reiterated his admiration for India.
"I feel I have a special connection with India. I love the people there; they have been very kind to me and are one of the most genuine and gentle people in the world," the tennis legend told Sania Mirza in a chat in January. "They love their sports with cricket being the most followed obviously. But tennis, as I understand, is followed great across the country too."
Who Is Dejana Radanovic?
Dejana Radanovic is currently ranked 245 in the world standings. The 27-year-old has won ten singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
She arrived the India three weeks ago and relocated to urban centres such as Bengaluru, Pune, Indore, and Mumbai to participate in the multiple ITF tournaments, and also the WTA Mumbai Open, where she was eliminated by India's Vaidehi Chaudhary.
