EXCLUDED – PARIS 2024 Olympic Games – Novak Djokovic, Olympic tennis champion: “Growing up in a city torn by war shaped me. »

This Sunday, Novak Djokovic became Olympic tennis champion by beating Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the final (7/6, 7/6). Already holder of the greatest number of Grand Slam tournaments (24), the Serbian player won the only title he was missing, further confirming his status as the most successful player in the history of tennis. The opportunity to (re)discover an interview that this immense champion gave us a few months ago, and in which he looks back on his career and the different criticisms he received throughout his career, despite a prize list that everyone agrees on…

Hello Novak. You are the most successful tennis player in history, but the public is not always kind to you...
It's definitely more pleasant when the crowd is behind you. It gives energy, like a gust of wind in the sails of a boat. It makes the game easier. But you're right, the truth is that I'm not the player who benefits from the most public support. We could see it when Federer or Nadal were on the other side of the net. It's always them that the public has supported against me. 

While you have the best record today. How do you explain that?
Federer and Nadal arrived on the circuit before me. They had their place at the center of the stage, they were more popular. I was the intruder from Serbia. 

Do you think this unpopularity, compared to them, had an impact on your performances?
In many matches, I had the public against me and so I had to find a way to flourish on the courts despite that. I haven't always succeeded, but I feel like I've learned to deal with it. 

You often showed great nervousness during matches… 
Yes, I can't always keep calm. I broke rackets, I did things I'm not proud of. I have no problem saying I made mistakes. I am an imperfect human being, without a doubt. At the same time, as time went on, I tried not to be too hard on myself, as I was earlier in my career. I was my own biggest critic.

With age, have you become more tolerant of yourself?
Today, I show more tolerance towards myself. I'm looking for ways to improve, not only with my game, but also with my mentality and emotional state. I'm looking for the formula that keeps me in an optimal state of mind, even if I don't think it exists. There are bad days when all the negative things come together: you play in 40 degree weather, you have difficulty against an opponent you are supposed to beat, the crowd is against you, in the morning, you had an argument with your woman who affects you when you have difficulty on the field, and that's when you lose your nerves... 

Is feeling loved important to you?
Do I want to be loved? I think at the beginning of my career I really tried to be, how should I say, a little more connected with the public, especially in tournaments where people liked Federer, Nadal, or even Andy Murray more. But at the same time, I understood that there were several factors which would mean that I would not be favored by the public against these players. So I asked myself: Do I keep trying to win over the crowds or do I accept and move on? By remaining myself, authentic, whether people like me or not. So yes, there are people who don't like me, or who maybe don't find me attractive enough in terms of personality or character. But too bad. In the end, the most important thing is not that people love me, but that I remain myself. 

And what is it, being yourself?
There are universal values ​​that are extremely important to me and that I do not want to violate. Respect for my opponents is part of it. I sometimes get angry on the field, but have never publicly said insults about them. I always wanted to be fair, even if I could have said things more than once. 

You found success quite young. Is it difficult to keep your head on your shoulders?
When you are young, you have no experience of life. Success came quite early for me. At 20, I beat Federer in the semifinals of the 2008 Australian Open, then won my first Grand Slam title by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. Between them, Federer and Nadal had won the previous 11 Grand Slam tournaments, but their dominance was now challenged by my arrival. It was good for me, but I kind of had to play and grow and learn at the same time. Fortunately, I was surrounded by people who were very supportive and tried to help me, although ultimately I had to evolve on my own. 

During your first years, you imitated your opponents, such as Federer, Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Maria Sharapova. Some took it as a lack of respect, others laughed a lot… 
It was not a lack of respect, on the contrary. These great players are part of me. I've been doing impersonations since I was six years old. I always wanted to play players that I admired, especially among the men. I tried to take the best shot or a certain characteristic that is unique to them and play with that. That’s where it started and I continued once I became professional and famous. People thought I did it because I wanted to be liked. This was not the case. I did it because I loved doing it. 

But you stopped...
Yes, at one point I stopped because I wanted to have good relations with my rivals and not seem like I was disrespecting them… I noticed that some people looked at me strangely. I said to myself, "OK, I'm going to stop imitating my opponents, because I don't want to piss them off." »

Do you remember your beginnings?
Yes. It was the summer of 1993. I was 6 years old. My family spent time in Kopaonik, a mountain resort in southern Serbia. I was attracted by the tennis courts that had just been built. I watched people play tennis. Jelena Gencic, a great coach, noticed that I spent hours watching others play. She suggested that I take my turn. Two days later, Gencic insisted on speaking with my parents. She told them they had a “zlatno dete,” a golden child. For my part, I had prepared my bag, with my neatly folded things, a bottle of water and bananas. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a professional gamer. It all started like that.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, your choice not to get vaccinated caused a lot of talk. The Australian government even intervened to send you home, saying your presence in Australia risked inciting civil unrest. How did you experience this episode?
You know, I've been through a lot worse in my life, especially in the early 1990s when we were going through the war and the bombings and everything that was going on. NATO planes first struck my hometown, Belgrade, in March 1999. I was 11 years old. The bombings lasted 78 consecutive nights. With my family, I slept in my aunt's underground shelter.

Did this time traumatize you?
During the bombings, the feeling of helplessness dominated our lives. There was nothing we could do but sit, wait, hope and pray. Usually enemies attacked during the night. You don't see anything, but you guess what's happening. You wait and wait, you fall asleep, and then the horrible noise wakes you up. Twenty-five years later, loud noises can still affect me. But I also know that growing up in a war-torn city shaped me. When you experience the bombings, you learn to resist what life throws at you. When you are in an environment where you need to develop certain skills to survive, everything else becomes easy. If I survived what I survived, I can do anything. It's not arrogance or pretension, it's just this boldness, this faith. I really wanted to do something valuable with my life. God gave me a second chance and I wanted to make the most of it, as a sign of gratitude to life, God and my parents, who sacrificed incredible amounts...

In January 2022, you were detained for five days at the Park Hotel in Melbourne for entering Australia without being vaccinated, which was prohibited. How did you experience this episode?
You know, there were asylum seekers in the hotel who had been waiting for years for their applications to be examined. It puts things into perspective. I heard about a man called Mehdi, a 24-year-old Iranian who had arrived by boat nine years earlier! I would really like to meet him one day. He is now an American citizen and I feel we share a bond, even though we have never met. These days were extremely valuable for my life experience. Because of the way it was reported in the media, many people believe that I entered Australia illegally on purpose and was deported because I was not vaccinated. I mean what actually happened. 

And what is your version of the facts?
It is not true that I entered Australia by force or that I did not have the correct papers to enter. On the contrary, I had the papers and a medical exemption that had been granted to me by an independent medical board. What the media didn't say was that there were two people, a female player (Renata Voracova, Czech player, Editor’s note.) and a male coach (Filip Serdarusic, Croatian coach, Editor’s note.) both of whom had entered the country with the same medical exemption as me. And they didn't have a problem at first. It was when I was arrested that the problems started for them. After a day or two, they were finally kicked out. I would never have gone to Australia if I knew I wasn't allowed to be there. I am not crazy.

What do you think of people who call you anti-tax?
People think I'm anti-vax. I'm not anti-vax. I am for the freedom to choose what goes into your body. I decided not to get vaccinated and that stopped me from playing in America for two years. I accepted this. I did an interview with Amol Rajan of the BBC, and I was asked if I was prepared to sacrifice the chance of breaking the number of Grand Slam tournament victories and therefore being remembered as being without arguably the greatest player of all time. I replied yes, that I was ready to make this sacrifice. Finally, the pandemic stopped and I broke the record for the number of Grand Slam tournaments…

You have indeed beaten the records of Federer and Nadal. On this subject, they considered that there was no room for three in a rivalry… Do you share this opinion?
Yes, there was no room for three! (Laughs) They are right. The most famous rivalries in sports are always two people, not three. In football, it was Ronaldo or Messi. So I understand what they meant, and that's probably one of the reasons why I was a little bit left out. I'm not from a Western country, and I wasn't afraid to say that I wanted to beat these guys, to be number 1. I flaunted my ambitions when I was a teenager, and I think a lot many people didn't like it, including Federer and Nadal. So I was immediately sidelined and judged a lot. I wasn't as well-liked as them. It was probably due to my attitude. I said I would be the best. I knew that by saying this I would be divisive. A group of people will say, “I like self-confidence!” » Others will think, “Look at that arrogant bastard!” " It's like that …

It's rare to hear you talk about these things. You are generally quite discreet about your feelings…
Yes, but I wanted to share a little bit of my personality, say who I really am, what I represent, because I feel like a lot of things about me have been misunderstood or misinterpreted...

It's little mentioned in the media, but you are very concerned by the fate of tennis players. You even founded the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association). In your opinion, there are not enough of them earning a good living?
Yes. Tennis is ranked third in terms of global audience (behind football and basketball, Editor’s note.), but he is ninth in how he maximizes his potential. We only have 400 people on this planet, men and women, singles and doubles, who make a living from this sport. It's really little, and I feel that it's my vocation, my mission to improve that.

And what are the ways to achieve this?
An example: betting companies are now involved in tournaments. I don't want to see players advertising for betting companies. I don't want my kids to grow up in an environment that has more betting shops than schools, but if the tournaments get this money, 50% of the revenue should go to the players. At the moment we get zero. If we get this money, I want it to go to the players, especially the lower ranked ones. I don't need this money. I have a lot… 

How many more years do you plan to play?
I don't set limits for myself. Society imposes limits on you and considers that after 30 you are too old. I do not share this opinion. As long as I'm fit and stay motivated, I can continue playing. For me, retirement will be a decision related more to the mental and emotional side rather than the physical. Did I expect at 36 to win three out of four Grand Slams? No. Someone posted an interview with me from ten years ago where I said my career would end at 32. Now I want to be over 40.

In July 2023, in the Wimbledon final, you were beaten by Carlos Alcaraz, who embodies the new generation. This kind of defeat, against a young person who is coming up, does it hurt your ego? 
No. Normally, these kinds of matches, like the Wimbledon final, awaken something in me. They fuel my desire to succeed even more. Big defeats are like a wake-up call for me, a springboard: “OK, now I’m going to jump even higher. I'm going to do what I do even better. » Look what happened after that Wimbledon loss: I won every tournament I played. To a certain extent, you could say I was happy to lose that Wimbledon final, because it allowed me to move forward. And then Alcaraz is a truly unique player. I haven't played against anyone like him. I obviously had Federer and Nadal, they're all different types of players, but Alcaraz seems so mature for such a young boy... He's very impressive.

Don't you feel like playing against a younger player is a bit like an older man discovering a new youth or new energy by dating a younger woman?
(Laughs) I don't think Carlos is going to like this comparison very much! He's not going to like it at all, but we have a good relationship, so I'll tell him. Chamber him with this. It's funny ! So to answer your question, to a certain extent, yes… (Laughs)

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