Novak Djokovic fell in love with tennis after ‘fortunate’ assembly

Novak Djokovic credit his love of tennis all the way down to a ‘lucky’ encounter with former tennis star Jelena Gencic after watching the 1993 Wimbledon remaining on TV. Gencic had taken up a job as a coach on the time, instructing various children in Yugoslavia, and took Djokovic below her wing placing in movement the sequence of occasions that result in all of his tennis success.

Djokovic is the one among most profitable males in tennis historical past after claiming 22 Grand Slam titles throughout his profession. He is at present tied on the prime of the standings with long-term rival Rafael Nadal however will look to take the outright lead on the French Open when it will get underway later this month.

However, Djokovic’s profession might have been very totally different had he not met Jelena Gencic. The former tennis participant turned a coach after retirement serving to to seek out and tutor younger gamers in Yugoslavia.

Djokovic first met her in an opportunity encounter as she taught different youngsters close to his household’s pizzeria, asking him if he needed to hitch him after seeing he was within the sport the day before today.

“My parents ran a pizzeria, it was called Red Bull,” Djokovic shared with Italian publication Corriere Della Sera. “Just opposite they built the tennis courts.

“I was six. I don’t know if it was written in destiny that I should become a champion, I told her that I don’t believe in coincidences, nothing happens by chance and everything has a reason. But I believe in luck. And it was lucky that Jelena showed up. There was no place for me on the course, and from behind the fence, I watched the other children play.

“Then I turned on the TV looking for a tennis match, and there was the Wimbledon final: Sampras beat Courier. The next morning Jelena came up and asked me: good morning little boy, do you know what tennis is? I replied: ‘Yes, yesterday I watched the Wimbledon final!’ And she said: ‘do you want to try it?’

The rest as they say is history. Djokovic still to this day praises Gencic for teaching him everything he knows about tennis.

“Jelena saw something inside me,” he defined. “I learned everything from her. If I’m such a perfectionist, it’s because she was.

“She had discovered Monica Seles, and she made me think like this: do you want a coca-cola? Monica Seles does not drink coca-cola. Do you want a burger? Monica Seles doesn’t eat at fast-food.

“She also made me grow as a man, she prepared me for life. My holistic approach, the attention to what I eat, how I sleep, how I recover, how I welcome my thoughts, I found in her.”