'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Serbian tennis player Dejana Radanovic sparked controversy with her comments about India on Monday (February 5). She doubled down on those assertions on Tuesday, which didn't seem to help with her online reception.
Radanovic had gone on a tirade against India following her retirement loss against local favorite Vaidehi Chaudhari in the qualifying round of the 2024 L&T Mumbai Open. After flying back to Serbia, she put out a series of Instagram stories where she criticized the living conditions in the country, suggesting that it wasn't civilized.
The 27-year-old's remarks were interpreted to be racist by many tennis fans, prompting them to take umbrage at her. Radanovic, however, didn't take kindly to the scrutiny she received.
Trending
The Serb took to her Instagram handle again on Tuesday, claiming that she only meant to speak about her bad experience in India in her initial stories. She added that any insinuations about her being racist were "nonsense" since she has "friends of all nationalities and colors."
"If you come to my country, Serbia, and you don't like all those same things, that means you are a racist???" Dejana Radanovic wrote on her Instagram stories. "I have friends of all nationalities and colors so don't go there 'cause it's an absolute NONSENSE!"
Many in the tennis community on Reddit were ticked off by the World No. 245's comments, with one fan claiming she would've been better off not bringing up the topic again.
"You know she could have just said nothing and everyone would have forgotten about the story in like a week lol," they wrote.
Another fan suggested that Radanovic focus on her tennis instead of getting involved in online tussles with fans.
"She needs to put this energy into getting out of the top 250," they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from Reddit:
A deeper look into Dejana Radanovic's problems with the conditions in India
Dejana Radanovic travelled to India in January this year, as she was competing in various ITF Futures events. The Serb, however, was not impressed with the level of hygiene in the country.
In her previous Instagram stories, the 27-year-old complained about the tap water and local fruits, claiming she had gotten sick after consuming the latter.
More recently, she expressed dissatisfaction with the sanitation in her hotel accommodations and the traffic congestion in India.
"I LOVE fruit and 3 weeks without it killed me..." Radanovic wrote in her stories previously. "You can obviously take fruit, but the first time there a few years ago I did, and ended up with food poisoning and temperature 39- for a few days. So this time it was a no-no."
"I didn't like India - the country," she wrote later. "I didn't like the food, traffic, and hygiene (worms in the food, yellow pillows and dirty bed linen in the hotel, not knowing how to use roundabout, etc.)."
