DEFENSIVE DYNAMITE NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON WHY HIS DRIVE TO WORLD
DOMINANCE HASN’T ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE SORT OF FORWARD MOMENTUM WE ASSOCIATE WITH THE SENSATIONAL SERB’S BASELINE DASHES While Novak Djokovic is one of the most recognisable names – and faces – in the global sports arena, the harsh reality of this monster of modern competition is that he’s perpetually having to share airtime with two of tennis’s other goliaths. On the one hand, there’s Roger Federer, generally regarded as the finest to ever play the game; on the other, Rafael Nadal, whose blunt refusal to climb down from the muscular heights of his early 20s leaves him a perennial, competitive threat. It all seems rather unfair on the 31-year-old Serbian, whose unrelenting assault of the top positions in world tennis has cemented his reputation as a true generational great. “In my mind, I still don’t regard myself as anything other than a good tennis player,” he begins, with unapologetic humility. “Of course, I am aware what I have achieved, and naturally I have to view the titles and be proud of them, but I still feel a little detached from the masters of tennis I grew up watching… I still struggle to put myself in that category.” Certainly one of the masters Djokovic cannot picture himself beside is Pete Sampras.
“More than anyone else, Sampras is the man I looked up to most when I began playing tennis and making my way in the game. “My first connection with tennis was Sampras’s first Wimbledon title in 1993. I watched that Wimbledon final where he beat the former world number one Jim Courier, and after that match I had immediately fallen in love with the sport.” Djokovic, a spiritual, philosophical and contemplative tennis star a world away from the bombastic aggression of Tomas Berdych or the controversy of Nick Kyrgios, admits the dice of destiny fell his way just as Sampras’s incredible charge on Grand Slam tennis kicked into gear. “When Pete started winning everything – almost in the same year – three tennis courts were built literally 30 metres away from the restaurants my parents were managing in Kopaonik.
