Djokovic’s son, Stefan, “in love with tennis”, has a lasso finish like Rafa to “intimidate” his father
Novak Djokovic has said that he would support an eventual wish from his son to play tennis but he considers it way too early to think about it
Novak Djokovic and his son Stefan, 2019 © Zuma / Panoramic
Videos and photos of Stefan Djokovic, the son of Novak and Jelena Djokovic, playing tennis with or without his father have met with increased success on the Internet. What has mostly impressed people since the first pictures from Mallorca came out last year, is the similarity between Stefan’s forehand motion and Rafael Nadal’s.
“He likes to intimidate me on the court with finishing the swing here”, smiled Novak Djokovic, during a press conference on Sunday, after beating Tim van Rijthoven in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The Serb added: “He knows I don’t like that particularly. I’m trying to teach him to finish the hand here, the swing, over the shoulder. But he likes to do that. Whenever he does that, he always laughs because he knows. We have this kind of funny moments on the court”.
Djokovic answering “all these basic questions that kids are very curious about“
Djokovic, who was happy to share a recent picture of his son’s forehand looking like his, confirms his son is deep into tennis at the moment and has several questions about the sport like any curious child.
“I try to use every available opportunity, possibility, time to play with him because he’s right now fully immersed into tennis. Everything around tennis, how he can play, he’s watching, he’s analyzing. We’re talking. Last night when I was putting him to bed, he was asking me questions: What is the difference between the racquet head sizes, the strings, why somebody is stringing less tension, all these basic questions that kids are very curious about”, he explained.
He’s in love with tennis right now. It was fully his own desire to really pursue tennis.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic added: “He’s in love with tennis right now. It was fully his own desire to really pursue tennis. So of course I’m going to be there for him. I never force him to be on the tennis court, but if he wants, I try to always make myself ready to be there and play with him”.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion was asked about a future career but he thinks it’s too early to think about it, tennis being more an area for a safe father-and-son relationship.
Trying different sports, a key to Novak’s eyes
“Of course, I will support him in any possible way I can so that he can be professional tennis player if he intends to, if he really wants to. But it’s too early to speak about it, to be honest. He’s not even eight years old. It’s important for me that we have a relationship as a father and son, first of all, primary, before anything else, and that he’s enjoying life, that he’s having fun”, the Serb said.
Djokovic concluded : “He’s trying different sports. That’s super important. I was growing up with skiing, football, tennis, martial arts, different things. I feel like it’s very important to have, particularly at this young age, a lot of stimulus to the children from different perspectives and different sports and different movement, different activities. I don’t like children very early just doing only one sport. I feel like it’s important to try different things because it will help the development of the brain and also motoric skills”.
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