Novak Djokovic is a tennis player from Serbia. He became a real star thanks to his skillful acting, excellent knowledge of four languages. In 2012, Time magazine included him in the top 100 most influential people on the planet. On at the moment Novak is the best tennis player in the world. This article will describe his short biography.
First steps
Novak Djokovic (see photo below) was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1987. The boy was sent to tennis when he was barely four years old. In addition to him, there were two more younger children in the family. Their parents also sent them to the tennis section. Subsequently, all children reached the professional level. The hero of this article reached this level at the age of 16.
Getting to know Gencic
In 1993, Novak Djokovic, whose personal life will be described below, met the legendary tennis player Jelena Gencic. She praised the boy's play and took him under her wing. Over the next six years, Elena trained Novak intensively, and then helped him move abroad and continue his career. Thanks to Gencic's connections, 12-year-old Djokovic ended up at the Pilic Tennis Academy (Germany). The boy spent four years there. The young tennis player won his first European Championship at the age of 14 - in three categories at once.
Successes and victories
At the age of 28, Novak Djokovic has become the best player on the planet. He is a nine-time competition winner Grand Slam. Won five times ATP tournaments. Novak also has a bronze Olympic medal(2008) and Davis Cup (2010). Today the athlete is the only athlete, who won the Australian Open throughout three years contract.
Playing style
Novak is a versatile tennis player who performs equally well on all surfaces (clay, carpet, grass and hard). Has a good serve average speed at 190 km/h (maximum - 210 km/h). The percentage of hitting the first ball is one of the highest in the world. Djokovic plays in an attacking style. The athlete's forehand is reliable and his backhand is powerful. He doesn’t go to the net often, but if he does, it’s for sure. Novak always has a game plan and can adapt to any opponent.
Weak point
The hero of this article consistently makes it to the finals and semi-finals of major tournaments. But sometimes he lacks the strength to take the last step. Most often this happens when playing with Federer and Nadal, who give Novak a demonstrative “spanking”. Perhaps the Serb's only weak point is endurance. He physically cannot withstand long fights. Once the match drags on, Novak starts to feel trembling in his legs and lose his breath. This problem prevented him from topping the tennis rankings for several seasons in a row.
Personal life
We can talk a lot about Novak’s sporting glory, but there is one more feature of the tennis player that is worth mentioning separately. It's his sense of humor. Djokovic Novak perfectly copies the behavior of his own friends and colleagues. The tennis player even received a nickname for his humor and passion for practical jokes. It became a symbiosis of the English word Joke and his surname. In general, the press and circle of friends call him the Joker.
Now the athlete lives in Monte Carlo and is married to his old friend Elena Ristic. She recently gave birth to Novak's son Stefan. By the way, Djokovic is an Orthodox Christian and helps many monasteries in his homeland with money. For this, the Serbian church awarded him the Order of St. Sava.
Novak is also a member of the “Champions for the World” organization and actively fights for it along with other athletes. Djokovic is a polyglot and speaks fluently four languages - English, Italian, German and Serbian. In his spare time, the tennis player likes to cheer for the Serbian football club Crvena Zvezda.
Tennis racket
For many seasons in a row, Djokovic Novak and Maria Sharapova represent one Australian brand that produces tennis equipment very high quality. The athlete himself advertises Speed rackets in black and white. The line includes five models with parameters from amateur to professional level. Personally, Novak plays with a Head Utech Decanter Speed Pro racket. It appeared on the market in 2013.
Parodies
Djokovic Novak gained additional popularity thanks to his performance of hilarious parodies of other tennis stars. During his mini-performances, the audience simply “died” of laughter. For example, Maria Sharapova does during the game large number funny movements and screams. In Novak's interpretation it looks extremely accurate and very funny. And the audience is always happy. Although lately he rarely does parody and focuses more on the match itself.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is considered one of the greatest professional tennis players in current times. He has held the top position for 195 consecutive weeks and has won 13 Grand Slam titles so far. The talented player has set many records and recently excelled again at Wimbledon 2018. Novak constantly competes with for first place, and it was him who he defeated in last time to win the main prize.
Successes of Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic was born in Belgrade in Serbia (part of the former Yugoslavia). He has two younger brothers who are also keen on tennis. Since childhood, the boy was coached by Elena Gencic. Novak first picked up a racket when he was four years old. The talent was noticed immediately, and Djokovic had to leave skiing and football, which he also loved.
In the 1990s, Serbia faced a difficult economic and political situation. The decision to transfer Novak to Germany was difficult, but the only right one. At the age of 13, the boy went to Munich to train at the academy under the direction of famous trainer Nikola Pilicha. A year later, Djokovic had already become a triple European champion in singles, doubles and in the team competition, and also won silver medal at the World Junior Championships. Soon he won gold medal for his country and played successfully at the Davis Cup. In 2003, Novak turned professional.
First Grand Slam games
In 2005, the tennis player entered the Grand Slam tournaments. The first was the Australian Open, and then Roland Garros. He also entered the main draw at Wimbledon and reached the 3rd round. The experience helped him crack the top 100 and finish third at the US Open. However, there were still 6 years left before the first iconic victory.
Since 2006, Novak has been coached by former Slovakian tennis player Marian Vajda. It was he who led the future champion to his first victory at Australian Open. Since then, Djokovic has become known not only for his aggressive style of play, but also for his humorous parodies of his opponents. He showed Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, and many others.
In 2007, Novak ended the on-court dominance of his two main rivals: Rafael Nadal. He played semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and won his second Masters title in Montreal. Novak beat there best players, including Andy Roddick. This trophy brought him to third place in the world rankings.
Novak Djokovic and Wimbledon
By 2011, Djokovic had an impressive winning streak- 43 matches in a row. In his in better shape Novak arrived in London for Wimbledon. There he again defeated Nadal, becoming the first racket of the world. The athlete also collected a record five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles and set new record in terms of the amount of prize money for one season - $12 million.
Since turning pro in 2003, Novak has worn . At the end of 2009, the tennis player signed a 10-year contract with the Italian company Sergio Tacchini, although he still chose the German brand for his shoes. But after the victories in 2011, the company could not afford to support such a highly paid player. Soon Djokovic signed an agreement with Uniqlo.
The next victory at Wimbledon took place in 2014. At that time, the eminent tennis player Boris Becker trained with Novak. The champion defeated Roger Federer in the final in five sets. With this victory, he again displaced Rafael Nadal from the first place in the rankings. A year later, Djokovic won another victory over Federer. Along the way, the tennis player received titles in Australia and the USA.
Djokovic's career is still on the rise. In 2017, he joined the team of his coaches. Despite the fact that he is no longer the first racket of the world, in June 2018, Novak again won the last title at Wimbledon to date, defeating first Nadal and then Anderson.
In terms of sponsorships, the year before he stopped working with Uniqlo and signed a contract with Lacoste. Novak became the “new crocodile”, advertising clothes, shoes and sunglasses of the French brand.
Personal life of Novak Djokovic
Today Novak is a resident of Monaco. He knows many languages, including Serbian, English, French, German and Italian. Djokovic met his wife Elena Ristic at school. They started dating in 2005 and got married in 2014 in Montenegro. The couple has two children, son Stefan and daughter Tara.
Thanks to his personality, knowledge of languages and willingness to go along with comedic concepts, Djokovic has appeared on entertainment talk shows around the world. He starred in music videos and the film The Expendables 2, although he was cut from the final version of the film. Novak was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2012. Djokovic is also popular online for his famous skits.
Since 2007, Djokovic has been involved with the Novak Djokovic Foundation to help children from disadvantaged families. He often donated his prize money there. Following his historic victory at the 2016 Australian Open, the athlete donated $20,000 to a children's education program in Melbourne.
Novak Djokovic is one of the best tennis players in the world, who has captivated fans with his brilliant professional game: the young man is versatile and combines sports ground both calmness and prudence, and an aggressive manner of play.
Winner of 13 Grand Slam singles tournaments. During his career, he became the first racket of the world four times. In 2012, the athlete entered the top 100 most influential people according to TIME magazine.
Childhood and youth
The biography of the future tennis player began on May 22, 1987 in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in the city of Belgrade. Zodiac sign: Gemini. Novak himself admits that he owes his success to his parents, mother Dijana and father Srdjan, who constantly supported their eldest son in his sporting endeavors. In the Djokovic family, Novak is the first to devote himself to tennis. His father excelled in another sport, football, and was also a professional pilot.
Novak picked up his first racket when he was four years old. When the boy was six, he was noticed by the famous Serbian tennis player Jelena Gencic. She told his parents that he was one of the most talented children she had ever met. Therefore, Srdjan and Dijana began to take care of sports career son. Gencic trained the future sports star until 1999; as Novak himself admits, Elena devoted a lot of time to him, teaching him the basics of tennis. Often in interviews, an athlete compares his first coach with his second mother.
When the boy was 11 years old, NATO planes began bombing Belgrade. He celebrated his 12th birthday in a bomb shelter. In an interview with CBS, Novak said that, despite the chaos that was happening around him, he tries to remember this time brightly and positively. He says that the children were not sent to school, so he had more time to play tennis. But the war cost him 76 nights, which Novak spent in the basement during the bombing, deprived him of sleep and made him feel afraid.
His coach Elena Gencic tried to continue training her ward at this time. She was a prominent figure in the Serbian tennis world and easily received permission to play on any court, so the woman looked for safe courts. Every night a new object was chosen for bombing, so that after some place was “bombed”, it was possible to train there without fear.
After Gencic, Novak was coached by former Croatian tennis player Nikola Pilic. The 12-year-old boy studied at the Pilic Tennis Academy in Germany, where he transferred in September 1999. Novak spent 4 years there.
Djokovic's first professional debut sports arena happened in 2001, when he was 14 years old.
As a teenager, Novak made an impressive start to his sports career: he won single and double European Championship titles, and was also part of the Junior Davis Cup team that reached the final in 2001.
Novak has two younger brothers, Marko and Jodje, who are also early childhood loved tennis. However, they were not as successful in this sport as their older brother.
Tennis
It is difficult to count all the titles and titles that belong to this athlete. For example, the tennis player has won the Grand Slam competition thirteen times; his first win in this tournament occurred in 2008, when the Serb beat the three-time champion in the semifinals. As of 2018, he is a five-time winner of the ATP World Tour Finals, including 4 times in a row, which is a record.
Novak Djokovic and Roger FedererTennis fans note Novak’s special playing style. He is a versatile athlete who can play equally well on any tennis court, be it lawn, concrete, carpet or hard surface. Deft movements on the court allow the Joker (the athlete's nickname) to make accurate and strong blows. Djokovic's backhand tennis strike (the back of the hand is turned towards the ball), which is executed with great speed and extreme accuracy, is recognized as one of the best in the world.
Novak Djokovic - forehand and backhandThanks to his agility on the tennis court, Novak is difficult to beat, but the player also has weaknesses, for example, these include physical endurance: sometimes the guy didn’t have enough strength to take the last step towards victory. If the match drags on, Novak feels tired and is unable to concentrate on the ball.
2015 was truly successful for the Serbian tennis player. He became the winner Open Championship Australia, and beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. Djokovic also added his victory at the US Open and reached all the finals of the Grand Slam tournaments.
Kevin Anderson - Novak DjokovicThat year, Forbes published another ranking of the highest paid tennis players in the world. Djokovic took second place, losing to the Swiss Roger Federer. The total amount of prize money reached $63 million. And earnings from advertising and partnership agreements amounted to $31 million.
Personal life
In addition to athletic qualities, the guy has an incredible sense of humor. Novak Djokovic is not against showing parodies of his colleagues, which makes the spectators at the stadium burst with laughter. For example, he can depict and. Fans of the athlete assume that it was precisely because of his cheerful disposition that the tennis player received the nickname Joker, which contains an allusion to his last name and the English word “Joke” - a joke.
Novak Djokovic parodies Maria SharapovaDjokovic is also distinguished by his extraordinary intelligence. He calls himself a fan of languages. Novak speaks fluently five languages – his native Serbian, English, Italian, German and French.
In addition to tennis, the young man also loves another sport - football: he supports the Italian, Serbian and Portuguese football clubs.
Djokovic is a believer, an Orthodox Christian, he helps financially in the restoration of the oldest churches, for which he received the Order of St. Sava, first degree. The athlete is a philanthropist and willingly engages in charity work; Novak has his own foundation, which has been operating since 2007. The organization supports Serbian children and refugees from other countries.
In 2014, Djokovic's home country of Serbia experienced flooding. Then Novak won sports competition, which took place in Italy. The tennis player donated the prize money, amounting to $750 thousand, to help those affected by the natural disaster.
Novak Djokovic began dating Elena Ristic in 2006, who, according to the athlete, was the love of his life. The couple got married in 2014 and had a son, Stefan. As the athlete says, his wife is a source of inspiration. However, in 2014, there were rumors on the Internet that Novak and Elena had broken up. But in the official "Instagram" tennis player, happy photos of the couple together regularly appear, which allow us to conclude that everything is fine with the spouses.
At the beginning of September 2017, Djokovic became a father for the second time. His wife Elena gave birth to a daughter, whom her parents named Tara.
It is known that Novak is involved in business projects; in 2005, his family created the company “Family Sport”, and this company also founded the chain of cafes “Novak Cafe” in Serbia. In 2016, Novak and Elena opened a restaurant healthy eating"Eqvita Restaraunt" in Monaco. Among other things, Djokovic is the author of the book “The Taste of Victory. 14 days gluten-free for perfect body and spirit,” where he talks about his own diet and proper nutrition and a little about my life.
Novak Djokovic now
In January 2018, Djokovic unexpectedly lost to Korean Chung Hyun in the fourth round at the Australian Open. He failed to win any of the three sets. An old hand injury made itself felt. Back in July 2017, she prevented him from finishing the season. Then everyone was worried whether the tennis player would decide to end his career right now.
One way or another, in May he showed good results at the ATP in Rome, beating Albert Ramos and Kei Nishikori and reaching the semi-finals. But he failed to defeat Nadal. As a result, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev met in the final.
At the tournament in London, which took place in June, Djokovic improved his results. This time he played in the final match with Croatian Marin Cilic, but became only second.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael NadalIn July 2018, Djokovic won Wimbledon for the fourth time. He beat Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and met Kevin Anderson in the final. And he managed to win it too. Thus, Novak Djokovic returned to the top ten of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings after winning Wimbledon.
Awards
- Thirteen-time Grand Slam singles winner
- Five-time ATP World Tour Finals winner
- Davis Cup winner with the Serbian national team
- Bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Novak Djokovic was born in Belgrade in 1987. He started playing tennis when he was only four years old. At the age of six, a legendary tennis player named Elena Gencic saw him play. This woman became Novak’s first professional trainer and worked with him for six years.
After this, young Djokovic was helped to leave for Germany in order to continue polishing his skills. Thus, young Novak Djokovic became a student of one of the tennis German academies. It was within these walls that he studied for the next four years. During this time he was able to start his own international career. So, when Novak was 14, he managed to win the European championship, and in three categories.
In 2007, the talented athlete was able to win five titles, including the Masters tournaments. Note that Djokovic managed to beat all the first three rackets there. He was able to repeat the record legendary Boris Becker, which was installed at the very beginning of the 90s.
The following year, Novak Djokovic won, becoming the first Serbian to win a Grand Slam tournament. In addition, after this result he began to be considered the youngest winner of the Australian Open since Stefan Edberg. On the green continent, Novak was able to win the semi-finals. Then the match Novak Djokovic - Roger Federer was remembered by many. As a result, he managed to break his opponent's streak of 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals.
In 2009, at the Basel tournament, Djokovic managed to win the fifteenth ATP title in his career. IN final game he again defeated Roger Federer.
The 2012 season began with Novak winning the Grand Slam tournament. In a dramatic final match that lasted nearly six hours, he fought
