Serbia, located in Central-Eastern Europe, is home to approximately 6.6 million people. Their presence on the world stage, in comparison to their small population, however, is substantial.
In the 2000s, it was Novak Djoković who brought worldwide attention to Serbia as he made his way into the “big three” of tennis, standing between the on-court rivalry of Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Since then, he has spent a historic 428 weeks ranked first in the world and has become the most decorated player in tennis history with 24 Grand Slams. However, Djoković is not the only Serbian tennis player to have held the world’s number one spot. Ana Ivanović and Jelena Janković both reached a No. 1 ranking in 2008.
Serbian basketball player of the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokić is currently one of the top candidates to receive the NBA’s MVP Award for the 2025–26 season. The honorific would be Jokić’s fourth MVP win of his professional career. Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić (ethnically Serbian on his father’s side), Los Angeles Clippers’ Bogdan Bogdanović, Miami Heat’s Nikola Jović, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Nikola Topić and Washington Wizards’ Tristan Vukčević are five other notable Serbian figures currently in the NBA. Serbian heritage runs deep within the history of the professional basketball league, with former players like Vlade Divac, Boban Marjanović and Predrag Stojaković all previously gracing NBA courts.
Serbia is known as a feeding ground to colleges and universities for young athletes. Nevena Kolarević, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’26, is one of them. As a Division I athlete on the Fordham women’s tennis team, Kolarević is originally from Belgrade, Serbia. At Fordham, Kolarević has reached the highest tennis ranking ever achieved by a Ram and was named the 2024–25 Atlantic 10 Conference’s Most Outstanding Performer in women’s tennis.
During her childhood in Serbia, Kolarević’s brother introduced her to tennis at the age of five, and her parents encouraged her to further pursue the sport.
Alexandra Manetović, FCRH ’26, is a diaspora Serb born to immigrant parents and a Division I athlete on the Fordham women’s track and field team. Growing up in a family that embedded sports into her life, Manetović got into sports at the age of three.
“Both my parents were pushing for sports and athletics,” Manetović said. “It’s just a huge thing (in Serbia). There are (sports) terrains everywhere. Basketball, tennis, volleyball. … (Serbs) start training from a very young age, and it’s way more intense.”
With a culture deeply rooted in family and community, the Serbian passion for sports is passed down generationally. After Stojaković’s 13-year NBA career, his son Andrej Stojaković has picked up the torch of his father’s basketball legacy at the University of Illinois, with the Fighting Illini currently ranked fifth in the NCAA.
Coming from the Dinaric region, Serbs are known for being tall — a huge advantage in sports such as basketball, volleyball and water polo.
“When I am on the court, or on the field jumping, I do feel … like I am definitely pulling from a European line, which is interesting,” Manetović said.
Serbia’s national men’s basketball team reached heights on the international stage, winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games and more recently bronze at the 2024 Paris Games. The men’s national basketball team does not stand alone in their international success; Serbia’s women’s national basketball team has also won the EuroBasket championship twice in 2015 and 2021.
In volleyball, Serbia excels with star players like Tijana Bošković. Serbia’s national women’s volleyball team has previously won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They have also won two back-to-back Fédération Internationale de Volleyball World Championship titles in 2018 and 2022, and three consecutive European Volleyball League golds.
Although Serbs play sports recreationally, their passion goes beyond just having fun, with a cultural emphasis on excelling.
“In Serbia, when you play sports, it’s to be really really good, to get to the professional level,” Manetović said. “That’s my impression.”
Cultural emphasis on “igraj i pobedi” — “play and win” — fuels Serbian athletic drive.
Beyond their passion for athletic skill, Serbs are also incredibly passionate as sports fans. Serbian sports often feature unbelievably massive turnouts, relentless chanting and pyrotechnics in incredibly loud and intimidating environments. With a passion so strong, Serbian sports clubs such as Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) and Partizan are known for their historic rivalry.
With an immense pride in their heritage and a deep reverence for teammates, Serbia specifically excels in team-based sports. Serbia is not soft-spoken regarding their star athletes, with pictures and murals of them plastered all over the country. Cultural emphasis on “igraj i pobedi” — “play and win” — fuels Serbian athletic drive.
Major sports victories feature Serbians gathering in masses within town squares to celebrate, honking their horns in unison, waving flags, lighting fireworks, singing patriotic songs and partying. A win for one athlete or team is a win for all Serbs, showing a value of oneness and community. After the Paris Olympics, Serbians celebrated athletes like water polo player Dušan Mandić, who led Serbia to their third consecutive Olympic gold. From 2014 to 2017, Serbia’s men’s water polo team held every major title simultaneously, including World League, European, World Cup and World Championships.
Serbian coaches are also known for their intensity, enforcing discipline and drive into their athletes to prepare them for success.
“I remember once I was playing this match and I lost the first set. I went to the bathroom and my coach came up to me and he was like, ‘You either win or you die winning on the court.’ … That gave me motivation and I can say that I ended up winning the match,” Kolarević said about her coach in Serbia.
“Small country, bad neighborhood, but we can make something. … Everything is possible. … If you want to put your 120%, you will be successful in anything you do in your life.” Milan Davidović, assistant coach of the Fordham men’s soccer team
Milan Davidović, the assistant coach of the Fordham men’s soccer team, is originally from Novi Sad, Serbia. He started playing soccer at the age of five, encouraged by both his family and community.
“Back home, soccer is religion. It’s more than just a game,” Davidović said.
Eventually, Davidović made his way to coaching soccer in Serbia for youth clubs, senior clubs, men’s second division and women’s first division teams, making him well-versed in Serbian coaching styles.
However, Davidović is not the only Serbian coach at Fordham, with Ilija Duretić assistant coaching the men’s water polo team. Prior to coaching, Duretić was a four-time Junior National Champion of Serbia. More recently, he was bestowed with a USA Water Polo Zone award recognizing his leadership, dedication and impact as a coach.
When asked to characterize Serbs in sports, Davidović highlighted their hardworking nature, while Kolarević described them as “stubborn, passionate, resilient and just very straightforward.”
“I call this our ‘blood problem’ — we are very competitive as a country. We want to be the best … It comes from the history; we had a lot of wars behind us, starting from the First World War, Balkan Wars, Second World War, and then bombings and everything. We want to show everyone that we are a small country, but we can still fight. … We don’t care how strong you are, we will at least give you a fight,” Davidović said.
Djoković has brought light to this struggle, being open about his childhood spent in poverty and hiding in bomb shelters, from which he still experiences post-traumatic stress today.
“That is probably the foundation of my mental strength and resilience because when you are in doubt of what tomorrow brings, not just for yourself, but for your entire family and for your entire city, for your country, and whether you will be able to survive the next day, facing a match point in a Grand Slam is not that hard,” Djoković said in an interview with Piers Morgan.
With this strength and resilience, Djoković has become a prime example of Serbian “inat.” He is known for his match comebacks when crowds boo him, claiming it fuels his mentality to stay strong and succeed. “Inat,” a word difficult to translate into English, captures the defiant stubbornness it takes to never give up.
“Inat … a combination of many emotions and resolvement to fight in spite of all odds. … Inat kept (Serbians) alive throughout history … (Belgrade) was destroyed to the ground and rebuilt 44 times … more than 115 times there were battles for the city,” said former Serbian NBA player Miroslav Raduljica in an interview with American former NBA player Joakim Noah.
Even now, the 38-year-old Djoković is the oldest player to be ranked among the top players in tennis, with many having doubted his ability to keep up with his younger competitors. However, the tennis legend has continuously proved them wrong, winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics against 22-year-old Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz, and finished second at this year’s Australian Open after beating 24-year-old Italian player Jannik Sinner.
“Every time I think of Novak Djoković, I think about that word — inat. … He had been through so much, but he still kept going and never gave up in any situation,” Kolarević said.
Accomplished Serbian athletes can be found in nearly every sport; their accomplishments emphasize the power of “inat,” in which a fierce spirit and hunger for success trample adversity.
“Small country, bad neighborhood, but we can make something. … Everything is possible. … If you want to put your 120%, you will be successful in anything you do in your life,” Davidović said.
