Word: serbia
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...Kosovo New Charter, Old Problems Kosovo's new constitution came into force on June 15, four months after the former Serbian province declared its independence. But Kosovo's path to autonomous statehood remains rocky. While some 40 countries have recognized Kosovo's secession, Serbia and ally Russia oppose its sovereignty, which they view as a violation of international law. Observers warn that the charter could also inflame simmering tensions between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and its resident Serbs...
What's that? Well, let's just say Ana Ivanovic, the French Open champion and new top-ranked women's player in the world, had a slightly tougher ride than most tennis pros. Reared in the war-torn Serbia of the 1990s, Ivanovic has risen from her home country's ashes to become the best in the game, the leader of the unlikely Serbian revolution that includes Jelena Jankovic, the second-ranked woman in the world, and Novak Djokovic, No. 3 on the men's side. At 20, Ivanovic has all the assets of a megastar-in-the-making: looks...
...chic yet down-to-earth brunette began her trip to the top in front of a Belgrade TV set. She worshipped Monica Seles, to this point Serbia's most famous tennis star. During one Seles match, before Ivanovic had turned 5, she saw a commercial for a local tennis school. She memorized the phone number. "I forced my parents to call and sign me in," says Ivanovic. "My mom was like, 'Maybe you should go to dance school.' I said, 'No, no. I want tennis...
...time, the sport was an afterthought in Serbia. Ivanovic learned the game on a makeshift court at the bottom of an empty swimming pool. Crosscourt shots sent players crashing into the walls. Another tiny challenge for Ivanovic: in 1999 NATO launched air strikes against Belgrade to halt President Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. On the first night of bombing, Ivanovic and her family hid in a cellar. "But we had the windows glued, you know," she says, "so they wouldn't go into little pieces." While she was spending time with her grandparents, a bomb exploded...
...phenomenal junior player. To fly to tournaments, Ivanovic and her mother Dragana took seven-hour bus trips to the Budapest airport, since there were no flights out of Belgrade. Because of Milosevic's war crimes, Serbians were often viewed with disdain. "We would say we were from Serbia, and people would look at you suspiciously," Ivanovic says. "They would pull you aside, and you could tell from the look in their face that they felt sorry for you. It was very frustrating...