Serbian tennis players awarded diplomatic passports
Members of Serbian Fed Cup and David Cup teams were handed over diplomatic passports by Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, during the Serbia Open ATP event in Belgrade. WTA players Bojana Jovanovski and Ana Jovanovic were present at the ceremony, beside their male colleagues Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, Viktor Troicki and Novak Djokovic. The best two Serbian WTA players, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, did not attend the official event, but they will receive the passports.
Here's one part of Vuk Jeremic’s statement, whose initiative will allow Serbian tennis players to travel more easily:
I am honored to promote to diplomatic service people who have contributed to the popularity of Serbia in the world [...] there is not a single country in the world which wouldn’t be honored to have you as ambassadors.
You can see a lot of photos from the event here.
When did troicki change his hairstyle? He looks deliciously hot now :drool:
What about their family members, just plain old passports, or dip. pass. as well?
Plain old passports I'd say…
I'm probably jealous but does it make sense to give a diplomatic visa to a tennis player??? According to Wikipedia: "Issued to diplomats for work-related travel, and to accompanying dependents. Although most diplomats with diplomatic immunity carry diplomatic passports, having a diplomatic passport is not the equivalent of having diplomatic immunity. A grant of diplomatic status, a privilege of which is diplomatic immunity, has to come from the government of the country in relation to which diplomatic status is claimed. Also, having a diplomatic passport does not mean visa-free travel. A holder of a diplomatic passport usually has to obtain a diplomatic visa, even if a holder of an ordinary passport may enter a country visa-free or may obtain a visa on arrival." Well, I'm less jealous now. Try to explain to the China consulate that you need a diplomatic visa because you are about to play Beijing tennis tournament!…
Gregoire, diplomatic passport certainly brings certain privileges, whichever they are. I mean, it's much better for them to have it than not. And as for the diplomats deserving the passport, well, we all realize that our tennis players are better diplomats than all the real diplomats we have.