Djokovic: “Tennis has made me more resilient in the rest of my life”

At nearly 37, Novak Djokovic continues to write the history of his sport. Holder of the record for the number of Grand Slam titles (24), the Serb has accomplished almost everything in sporting terms. The world No 1 is where he is today partly thanks to his mental resources, considered to be the most impressive in tennis history.

Now on the circuit for his 21st professional year, Djokovic can look back on all his achievements. In a press conference after his victorious Indian Wells opener (against Aleksandar Vukic), a journalist asked him to pick out two lessons that tennis had taught him throughout his career. Surprised by the question, the Belgrade native finally gave it a go.

“I need a little prep on that to give you a right answer. But I would say out of the blue it definitely made me more resilient, I think, just for everything else in life, really. Competing at the highest level for 20 years has allowed me to tap into the parts of myself mentally, physically, emotionally that I didn’t know existed. I had to really dig deep so many times to really, you know, overcome challenges and reach history and great achievements,” he said.

As with anyone else, Djokovic has also suffered from self-doubt, rivalry and injury, and was caught up in controversy during the Covid-19 period, but has always found a way to emerge from these ordeals with his head held high.

“It also taught me that if you do things in the right way, if you’re dedicated on a daily basis to constant improvement approach of trying to perfect your skills, yourself as a person, as an athlete, it will get you to stars and even further. So nothing really is impossible if you, first of all, strongly believe in it, visualise it, and then, you know, create a right short-term and long-term plan in order to execute everything that you have, you’re dreaming of.”

He added: “I think it taught me to be accepting the small losses in life with, you know, figuratively speaking, with more optimism. And that also whatever happens, if you lose a tennis match, there’s always another one coming around the corner.”

By answering this question truthfully, Djokovic also confirms another of his great qualities, honed throughout his meetings with journalists from all over the world: he is an ace at press conferences.

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