French-Born, German-Raised Ohio State Guard Mathieu Grujicic Understands Five Languages, Loves Old-School NBA Hoops
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Andy Anders on October 23, 2025 at 11:55 am
@andyanders55
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Speaking with Mathieu Grujicic, it’s impossible to tell that English is his third language and not his first.
The third of five that he understands, that is, and he knows a piece of the Spanish-adjacent Catalan, too. He speaks four languages fluently.
“If some people that know me hear it, they might argue with me because my Serbian is not too good,” Grujicic said with a laugh at Ohio State’s basketball media day on Oct. 1. “But it's German, French, English, Spanish, a little bit of Catalan, and then, yeah, a little bit of Serbian. But I wouldn't even consider, like, talking (in Serbian), I understand it better than I talk.”
The French-born, German-raised Ohio State freshman who spent this past season playing basketball in Spain brings a versatile offensive skillset to the Buckeyes’ roster, versatility only matched by his personality off the court. He’s acclimated to life in America in near-record time, and he’s rapidly acclimating to the step up in competition he faces in Big Ten basketball.
“I think the game, it’s slowly starting to slow down for him,” Jake Diebler said on Oct. 1. “The pace that we’re playing at is different. It’s not what he’s used to. I think it’s certainly a different game than (what) he’s used to playing overseas. Which, he played really well at the (Spanish) U18s, but you’ve now got older guys and you’ve got guys with more experience on the court. The first day of practice was really fast for him. And certainly, had a chance to get acclimated once we started up school.”
Grujicic was 5 or 6 years old when his mother landed a job at the French embassy in Berlin, Germany, and his family moved there. His memories of Arles, France, his birthplace, are minimal as a result.
German became a necessity to pick up alongside his mother’s native French as Grujicic started school in Berlin as a child. English first pursed his lips through the American movies his father, a former professional basketball player in his native Serbia, put on with French subtitles.
“My dad was putting on movies ever since we were able to read, so he was putting on English movie subtitles in French,” Grujicic said. “So we were basically forced to read the English part that was being said. But that's kind of how I started to speak English, so I started speaking English at like 7, 8, pretty early on.”
At that time, Grujicic’s primary sport was martial arts. He practiced capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that blends acrobatics and dance with self-defense, and aikido, a Japanese martial art that translates to “the way of the harmonious spirit.” It seeks to practice self-defense that doesn’t cause bodily injury to an attacker, and is as much about overcoming one’s self and learning discipline as it is overcoming a foe.
But as the now 6-foot-7 Grujicic started towering over other children his age, his father introduced him to – or more accurately shoved him toward – basketball.
“It’s funny because my dad actually forced me to play,” Grujicic said. “I was so much taller than the other kids. I didn't even want to play, because the basketball academy we had in the school, they had all my brother's friends who were older, and kind of like, I wouldn't say bullying me, but they were teasing me a little bit. But then I stuck through it, and luckily we had a great coach there. That's kind of how I started with basketball.”
Some children “forced” into a sport by their parents resent the activity. Grujicic, then 8 years old, fell in love with basketball the instant he started playing. He started watching countless NBA and European games. Any basketball content around the ‘80s and ‘90s era of the NBA, especially. He wanted to model his game after Michael Jordan.
“I always liked MJ,” Grujicic said. “I used to watch the 30 for 30 documentaries like Bad Boys Pistons, Larry (Bird) against Magic (Johnson). That was always fun. So I'd say definitely MJ, and then these last couple years I just try to take small attributes from each player. Shai (Gilgeuos-Alexander), some stuff that he does, some footwork that (Luka) Doncic has. So that's been different, but I think the first guy was MJ.”
Mathieu Grujicic’s on-court versatility is matched solely by his versatility off it: The French-born native of Germany understands five languages and loves ‘80s and ‘90s NBA hoops.
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