He is writing the history of Serbian tennis in gold letters. He has laid down the foundations for a new, brighter future of the grand sport played in our country. When only 16 years of age he achieved impressive results that many older players would be envious of. Four years later he came tantalisingly close to the top by becoming world no.3. On Monday, July 4, 2011, a day after he had won his first Wimbledon, he realised his life dream - he became THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD! Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 4 July 2011. He has won five Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011 and 2012 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open. By winning three Majors in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player in the open era to win three Majors in a calendar year. He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Major singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and was also on the team which won the 2010 Davis Cup.
I shall never forget the day when a four year old boy came to my tennis camp with a bag neatly packed, as if for professional training. I asked him who packed it for him, and he replied he did it himself. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, without hesitation he said: “number one in the world”, the same answer I was given many years ago by Monika Seles when she was a little girl - said the legend of Yugoslav tennis, Jelena Gencic.
This took place in the Kopaonik tennis camp, whose head coach at the time was Jelena Gencic, and the boy was none other than Novak Djokovic.
The Djokovics can be said to be a family of sportsmen and women. As a boy Srdjan put on a pair of skis in Zvecane, where he lived at the time, and then went on to compete for a number of years on the white slopes. His life changed in 1984 when he finished the skiing academy and began work as an instructor in the prestigious ‘Genex’ school in Kopaonik. It was there one winter that he met a beautiful and slender ski instructor Dijana, a recent DIF graduate. People started seeing Srdjan and Dijana together on the slopes with increasing frequency. It was the shared love of the mountain and the white pistes which brought them together. Forever!
Nole is having a historic 2011 season on the ATP World Tour. He’s become the new king of tennis
Two months later, Novak lifted his first US Open trophy, becoming just the sixth men in the Open era to win three majors in a season, joining Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Mats Wilander, Jimmy Connors and Rod Laver.
On July 4, one day after he had realised his dream by winning the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world - Wimbledon, he was officially crowned the 25th player to rank no.1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, which has been his ambition and goal since he started playing tennis.
By the end of September, he has won ten ATP titles (Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid, Rome, Wimbledon, Montreal and US Open).
He has become the first man ever to win five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies in the same year.
The Serbian star is also the first men's player to win a tournament in his no.1 debut since Pete Sampras did it in 1993.
Nole had an impressive winning streak - 43 matches won in a row overall (41 this season), dating back to the Davis Cup finals in December, that ended in Roland Garros semi-final when he lost to Roger Federer.
Novak completed a run that is unmatched among active players. Only Guillermo Vilas with 46 straight victories in 1977, and Ivan Lendl with 44 from 1981-82 had longer streaks.
To win more than fourty straight matches on different surfaces, in different conditions, against top players is absolutely fantastic, historic achievement. Nole went a half year without losing, clinched seven, of the 43 victories, over Nadal and Federer.
Everyone has their idol, and so does Novak Djokovic. His choice is American Pete Sampras (“I like his serve and behaviour on-court!"), one of the best players of all time, and lately he has mentioned Andre Agassi as an inspiration. He speaks Serbian, English and German. His favourite surface is hard-court. In those rare moments of free time, Novak likes surfing the net, watching films, listening to relaxing music, and sometimes he even manages to find time to go out with friends and his best friend Vuk. He likes home-cooked food, salads and fruit juices. From mid-2006 Nole has been coached by the Slovak Marian Vajda, and this collaboration has proved to be - a big hit!
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