Novak Djokovic has a reputation as a man with arguably the greatest mental strength in the world of tennis, and perhaps one of the greatest in the sport today. When breaking imaginary bread, even if he is not doing well, he remains calm, finds solutions, does not panic.
Photo: ČTK / imago sportfotodienst / Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic
Novak Djokovic at US Open 2024.
One of the greatest tennis players of all time gave an extensive interview to “La Nacion” in which he openly talked about many interesting moments of his career and, among other things, he touched on the mental strength that helped him overcome many challenges in sport and life.
He also got to what he had started many times in the past, but had never described in detail. His mental resilience was shaped by the harsh childhood and youth he experienced against the backdrop of the war in the former Yugoslavia.
“War is a horror, the worst thing that can be experienced, the fear of the unknown. You don’t know if the next bomb will fall on your head, and it’s like that every day.
Alarms, sirens, all of that woke us up at night when the planes were approaching,” the Serbian phenomenon opened the difficult topic.
He also added the experience that he and his family were going through. “You’re sleeping, then the sirens sound, you have to take your bag and go to the shelter. The first time it happened, mom woke up in the dark because we were all asleep, we didn’t know what was going on and we were crying at night.
She hit her head on a heater and fell unconscious. It’s three in the morning, my father is there and he sees his wife on the ground.
I was 12, my brothers eight and four, we were all crying, total panic. But it is an experience that has strengthened us as a family, as individuals. I repeat, I don’t wish this on anyone,” Djokovic recalls.
As the eldest son, he had to come of age early in these difficult times. “I had to take some responsibility, share this role with my father, because I was the eldest son.
My father told me what to do, where to lead my brothers. Everyone was panicking, screaming, scared, lost, it still gives me chills.”
The feeling of helplessness that overtook him on the tennis court remained in his memory. “I remember a day when I was 12 years old and I saw a plane in the middle of the day.
It was at the tennis club and the alarms and sirens went off…You hear it and then you see the plane overhead and you think, “What can I do?”
I can’t do anything, it’s the worst feeling, you have no control, you have no power. Someone who is stronger has the power to destroy everything at one point or another,” explained the tennis player.
As a father, he cannot bear to see the little ones suffer. “I’m always emotional with children, but when I became a father… When I see children suffering, it breaks my heart, as if I’m going into depression.
They are the purest beings on the planet and they deserve only the best, they deserve to have a future. When I see the war and everything that’s going on…”
The former world number one is worried about what kind of world the current generation will leave for the next generation. “I survived the war, my city was bombed day and night, I saw dead people.
Now, when I see war in other countries of the world, I don’t understand. I would like to know why this is happening, but those are questions for politicians and other people.
All this makes me sad because we are not leaving a better world for children, for future generations, which means we are not doing good things.
This is also why our foundation works with children, we want to create a better society for them, the best possible education, that’s why injustice makes me especially vulnerable towards children and nature. I love nature and animals and things like this destroy me.”
A tennis player would like to experience a world that is more connected to nature. “It hurts me to see people suffering from health problems, when they feel that there is no hope and that there is no solution.
When I was little, members of my family were very sick and I am very sensitive about it. That’s why I imagine a world that is more connected to nature.
Every tree gives us oxygen, life, energy, heals the soul, but instead we stare at our phones,” he pointed to a sad part of modern life.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
