Serbia is a country of 6.8 million people. In terms of population, it is about the size of northern Italy. but it is surprising how many elite sports talents this nation has.
In fact, Serbia currently has the best tennis and basketball players in the world. Novak Djokovic has returned to being No. 1, while Nikola Jokic has become an NBA champion with his team.
Expanding the comparison, Serbia, with a population of less than 7 million, currently has 4 tennis players in the top 57 of the ATP rankings. The United States, with a population of 333 million, has 9 in the top 57.
In the NBA, Serbia currently has 5 players: Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanavic, Boban Marjanovic, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Nikola Jovic. If one includes players with Serbian citizenship or or origin, the list also widens to Luka Doncic, Goran Dragic, Nikola Vucevic, Cedi Osman, and Deni Avdija.
If one widens the look to other countries of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, with a population of 2 million, finished fourth in basketball at the last Olympics. Croatia, with a population of less than 4 million, has two tennis players in the top 25: Marin Cilic and Borna Coric. That is an incredible amount of talent produced in this relatively small region of the world.
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