How Djokovic Became A Tennis God – Novak’s Evolution Into The GOAT
Novak Djokovic just won his 24th Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open. This puts him firmly at the top of the tennis GOAT debate, and furthers his legacy as a tennis GOD.
In 2005, Novak Djokovic first burst onto the tennis scene down under, where he qualified for the Australian Open and played Marat Safin.
Djokovic showed the world his potential, and later that year, Djokovic once again qualified for a major and made the third round of Wimbledon.
Much of the tennis world had their eyes on Monfils, Murray and Gasquet as the next generation of grand slam champions.
Over the next few years, Djokovic went from strength to strength and established himself as a solid top 5 pro and in 2008 at the Australian Open won his first grand slam title.
However, Djokovic seemed to be living in the shadows of Nadal and Federer.
This was the period where Roger was snapping up grand slams faster than Andy Roddick could serve.
This was when Novak started looking for any edge he could get.
After retiring from some very big matches during the years, Djokovic got a reputation as a rule bender and when the going got tough a quitter. Andy Roddick famously said Djokovic had “Sars, bird flu, common cold”
In the 2009 Australian open, Novak retired in the quarterfinals against Roddick and Roger Federer was asked about this after his quarterfinal win. Roger said “it’s happened before, it’s not like he’s the guys who’s never given up in his career”
So what was going on with Novak?
Behind the scenes, Djokovic was working as hard as anyone else. Novak himself said that he was training twice a day on court, lifting weights and cycling or running for hours at a time every single day. It didn’t make sense to him why he felt so bad physically at times.
He tried different fitness routines and trainers.
He changed coaches, thinking something technically in his game could help.
He had nasal surgery to help him breathe easier.
He started meditating and doing yoga.
It all helped, and his performances became more consistent.
But at the 2010 aus open, disaster struck again.
In his quarterfinal match against Tsonga, Djokovic hit the wall.
Afterwards, Novak said it was his lowest point in his career.
However, on the other side of the world watching Novak struggle was a Serbian Dr who would help transform Nole into a tennis god.
Dr Igor suspected that Novak had food allergies that were causing these issues.
A few months later, Djokovic met with Dr Igor and they hatched a dietary plan for Novak.
Number one on the list was to cut out gluten.
The protein found in wheat.
Number two was to reduce the sugar intake and eliminate dairy.
Djokovic said he felt better within days. And his life changed within weeks.
During the next few months, he lost over 5kg. This was a professional athlete who was already in great shape. His family and friends started to worry and said he was getting too skinny.
But Novak felt great.
And at the end of 2010, Serbia won the Davis Cup which gave Novak the boost he needed for the next season.
Heading into the 2011 season, nobody could have predicted what was to come.
Djokovic won the aus open, Wimby and us open.
Djokovic went on a 41 match winning streak from the start of the season until the French Open semi finals where he lost to Federer.
He won five masters titles and when he won the Us open, had lost only two matches all year.
Many people say that was the greatest season in men’s tennis history.
Was it really just a diet that gave Novak this massive boost?
In my opinion, eating the right foods for his body was the final step to becoming Novak 2.0
In 2009 Djokovic started working with Gebhard Gritsch, Thomas Musters old fitness coach.
At the time, I remember Geb did a few interviews discussing their training.
At the start of their partnership, the main focus point was plyometric training. Explosive movements that would help Novak become faster on court and more powerful from the ground up.
Novak spoke about doing lots of single leg hops and stair work with Geb.
In 2009, Novak was having some horrendous issues with his serve.
He hired Todd Martin to help him with it, but it seemed to get even worse.
In the trophy position, his elbow was too low and the arm was too extended, it was more like a cricket bowl rather than a proper tennis serve.
Then in late 2010, we could see his elbow issues on the serve had been fixed and over the next decade, his serve became a real weapon. His accuracy is as good as anyone else’s.
Video Timeline:
00:00 – Djokovic’s 2005 arrival on the tennis scene
01:40 – Djokovic starts to rise
02:30 – Djokovic the quitter?
04:16 – Searching for solutions
05:02 – The diet that transformed Djokovic
07:08 – The best tennis season ever?
08:40 – The fitness coach that turned Novak into a machine
09:28 – Serve issues and the fix
#tennis #djokovic #usopen
21 Comments
Is Djokovic the greatest of all time?
Thanks for the great video.
I do agree that food, continuous improvement and dedication to both body and the mind are the key.
All that discussion of nutrition and you don't mention that Novak is a vegan, ie, that he eats no animals at all?
He has been using hyperbaric oxygen therapy for recovery too, that makes a big difference,
Simon ive been waiting foe your next video
By the way i have a problem my elbow is paining on my flat serves nothing on kick
Ive revised my action and asked my coach about the actipn and he said its good
But my elbow is still paing everytime
First time anyone has covered this story about novak.. thx.. good work.. djoker is GoD
Relentless
BRAVO !!!!
Great video. All accurate. But one important part that you missed was when Novak hired Craig O’Shannessy to be part of his team.
l really enjoyed watching your video ,you're awesome and your summary of How Djokovic becomes the Goat of tennis is the best and your photos are amazing,they support your summary, it's incredible, l love your videos, air hug to you
federer was always trashtalking and was never a gentleman off the court, so glad karma got to him.
Wow, Federer was really classy spitting those mean words out of his filthy hole
All the doubters and haters have had to eat an awful lot of humble pie over the years. They should consider themselves fortunate, that the doctor who figured out why Novak's body was breaking down through major gluten, dairy and sugar intolerance, didn't find out 5 years earlier, as Novak would have been on 27/28 grand slams, as he lost 4 due to retirement. Nothing to do with being mentally weak or an inability to face defeat or overcome seemingly insurmountable odds, it was simply his diet which severely affected his entire body from head to toe. So happy to see he's getting the last laugh and has become the GOAT! 👏
Through storms and fire, through humiliations and booing, Novak jumped higher, bigger, stronger and better than anybody else. And for very long time Novak will be on the top of tennis history. Congratulations and long live to Novak.
Champion extraordinaire,motivated to the MAX ,doubt this world will ever see such brilliance again,TOTALLY UNIQUE.
The Greatest. GOAT.
Yeah he is just better then Federer and Nadal. Nadal is better on clay only
That was some pretty expensive Gluten allergy..
2008 to 2011 times 4 slams🤔
He should quit while he is ahead. Not caught yet. Don't play 2024, it will come out.
I think the 2nd half of 2015/1st half of 2016, 2021 and 2023 were even better season for djokovic than 2011. Although he hasnt won as many matches in later years of his career because he simply doesnt play every single tournament due to age and recovery, he plays much better more consistent tennis. In 2016 he managed to win 4 slams in a row, basically a calendar slam depending on when your calendar starts, and was beaten only by a handful of times in masters 1000 tournaments.
In 2021 he was one last match from finally getting the calendar slam, but nerves and fatique caused him to play really bad tenis vs Medvedev whom he was able to comfortably beat before and after (most notably last month in us open 2023 final). 2021 is also the year when djokovic played probably the best match in his career, which was French open semifinal vs the clay god Nadal. Despite Nadal playing amazing tennis and arguably also the best tennis of his life, especially in the 3rd set that Djokovic won in a tiebreak (that set replay still sends chills down my spine even today, the level of tenis was absolutely incredible), Djokovic won 3-1 on sets vs peak Nadal on clay.
This year in 2023 he again missed the calendar slam by 1 match losing the wimbledon final to alcaraz, where both djokovic and alcaraz played amazingly, but unfortunately and very surprisingly, djokovic produced very cheap errors during absolutely crucial points of the match, most notably the 2 backend errors at the end of 2nd set tiebreak (after which he could have easily lead 2-0 on sets and with 95% of probability win the match) and also in the last 5th set where he threw away break point chances to get back on serve. But despite that the 2023 is maybe Djokovic's best season so far, because the competition has been very fierce (despite Federer and Nadal not playing).
We will see what the 2024 season brings, I am having strong feelings that djokovic will again attack the calendar slam and with a very reasonable probability finally get it. His only real opponents are number 1 – his age and health, and number 2 – alcaraz. There is a possibility that alcaraz will improve so much in 2024 that combined with his youth he will be too much for djokovic, but i really think that if djokovic stays healthy, there is not much other players can do against him. I think djokovic will definitely win australian open, very likely french open unless nadal comes back like the god he is, and wimbledon and us open will again be a race against alcaraz. I just dont see any other player winning slams other than djokovic and alcaraz, unless they both get injured.
I think Djokovic will still dominate season 2024, slightly less 2025 (still winning at least one slam), a probably decide to quit tenis sometime in 2026 when his health becomes the main obstacle against winning important matches. Maybe he will suffer a big injury like Federer and Nadal, and will spend 6+ months recovering to once again come back on courts strong in 2025 or 2026, but first I would like to see how nadal does in 2024. Imagine nadal wins french open again for the 15th time, that would be something absolutely incredible. Most players' career dont last long enough on pro tour to beat nadal's french open record even if they won the title every single year, and nadal has managed to do it in less than 20 years against arguable the 2 best players in tennis history. For me personally, while djokovic has earned the GOAT status, you still have to add a little note that specifically on clay, nadal is the goat. If aliens came to this planet the fate of Earth had to be decided by playing a singles tennis match and earth could send one player from any point of history, i would first ask what surface are we playing on, and if it was clay, i would chose nadal over djokovic.
Ppl like to forget
how Novak was treated by the media as a youngster but it played a pivotal role in how mentally tough and resilient he became. The best thing about Djokovic's ascent to GOAT status is how no one in the media saw him coming as you point out at 1:16. They ignored him and then they mocked him including players like Roddick, and then they discredited him, until they finally had to relent and accept him as the GOAT.
Don't let other ppl stop you from going for what you want in life. Ppl can mock your dreams, and they can even hate you but don't ever let them stop you!!