Serbian Tennis Star Dejana Radanovic Faces Backlash Over India Remarks

Serbian tennis player Dejana Radanovic, who was in India recently as part of three International Tennis Federation tournaments, is facing backlash for her racist comments about India.

In a series of social media posts, Radanovic criticised the "food, traffic and hygiene" of India.

In one of her posts, Radanovic, who spent nearly two weeks in the country, wrote, “Adios India. See you never ever ever ever EVER again,” along with an image of the airport.

Upon reaching Munich, Radanovic shared another post that read, “Hello civilization. Only those who have experienced something like India for 3 weeks can understand the feeling.”

About the traffic she wrote, “But I gotta admit that they are amazing drivers and traffic was interesting sometimes. You may never know how your day will look like, what is going to happen and everyone is honking all the time, like in traffic rush game." 

Amidst mounting backlash about the posts, Radanovic has shared another Instagram Stories update, seemingly explaining her stance. Radanovic has maintained that her comments were not about the people of India but about the country and therefore, cannot be called racist.

She wrote, “Omg can't believe what things we need to talk about really. I didn't like India - the country. I didn't like the food, traffic, hygiene (worms in the food, yellow pillows and dirty bed linen in the hotel, not knowing how to use a roundabout etc.)

Further, Radanovic 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?! I have friends of all nationalities and colours so don't go there cause it's an absolute NONSENSE!"

Radanovic, 27, participated in three W50 events in Pune, Bengaluru, and Indore during her Indian tour.