Children, teachers, and residents of Orahovac cleaned the Djokovic image mural

Students of the local elementary school and high school, together with teachers and other Serbian residents of Orahovac, organized the cleaning of the Novak Djokovic image mural, which was painted over with white paint last night by unknown perpetrators.

Marko Stasic, a member of the Provisional Authority of the Orahovac Municipality, said regarding the destruction of the mural with Djokovic image that the case had been reported to the police, but he did not believe that anything would be resolved.

"This is just another incident in a series of attacks on Serbs, shootings, thefts, and what not. We also had robberies in the village, the police came, but nothing was solved. We reported the case to the police, and there are cameras, but we don't expect that something will be resolved. I don't see a reason why anyone would be bothered by a sportsman who is the best in the world, he is not a war criminal, but someone is bothered by the fact that he is the first in the world and that he is a Serb," Stasic said.

Olivera Radic, a resident of Orahovac, says that the mural with the image of Novak Djokovic is a symbol of freedom, which someone tried to destroy, both for the locals and for the youth in the village.

"Novak won for all of us. Novak is a sportsman, he is not a politician, and no one should be offended by him. He is our symbol here, the children love him, and we cheer for him. This mural was a symbol of freedom for us. Those who destroyed it tried to destroy that dream of freedom, but they failed. We will clean the mural, and it will shine again in the same place," Radic said.

The director of the Gymnasium in Orahovac, Dobrila Vitosevic, who came with the students today to clean the mural, said that the mural with Djokovic's image bothers only those who do not understand sports.

"Everyone adores Novak. Everyone looks at him and admires him. And it bothers someone who doesn't understand sports, competition, hard work, dedicated life in detail to a goal, a good goal," Vitosevic said.

The mural was painted in March of last year, and a message was written next to it in Italian and Serbian: "Never backwards, not even to gain momentum."

The painting of Novak Djokovic's mural in Orahovac was the beginning of the "Color in the Air" project, initiated by the "Amici di Decani" organization in cooperation with the artist Milan Milosavljevic.