Novak Djokovic, Serbia's most prominent athlete, on Saturday implored the media to raise awareness of the floods that have devastated his country, accusing CNN and the BBC of virtually ignoring what he described as a "total catastrophe of biblical proportions".
The former world No1 dedicated his win over the Canadian Milos Raonic in the semi-finals of the Rome Masters to "my people" and, in a familiar post-match ritual, wrote in Cyrillic script on the lens of the courtside camera, "I love you."
He said he had been distracted during the tournament about events at home, especially near his native Belgrade, where floods have taken several lives and forced the evacuation of whole cities.
"I have followed it as much as I can," he said. "Whenever I have my phone with me, on the computer, I am on the phone, I am following the news online and trying to be involved as much as I can because I am not there. Even for the people who are present in Serbia, many of them they can't do much because nature is a higher force.
"There have not been floods like this in the existence of our people. It is a total catastrophe of biblical proportions. I don't really know how to describe it. Half the country is in danger of not having any electricity, there is total immobilisation, evacuations – and we're talking about whole cities, not small villages.
"There is no sport, no public events happening, a lot of things being cancelled. So, in a way, for me being here, yes I enjoy it and I am glad I am in the final but, on the other hand, I'm feeling uncomfortable.
"At home, everything has stopped. People there are helping and I am not able to do that. But this little event I have organised here [a publicity shot on court to promote awareness of the floods] is something I wish to go viral because, unfortunately, there is not enough awareness of what is going on.
"I see that on CNN, the BBC and other big networks there is a lot about the miners in Turkey, and so forth. This is another disaster, but there is no broadcast from Serbia and Bosnia, nothing about the biggest floods that we have ever seen, that maybe Europe has ever seen. This is incredible.
"I just hope that people can find [some] common sense and broadcast this, spread the awareness about what is going on and help. We need help. This rain that has been constantly falling for four days already is going to stop eventually and the river is going to back up, but after that there will be a period of several months of recovery, and people will be without homes.
"So we need as much help, in any kind of way as possible, from the world."
