Novak Djokovic did not have an easy season, having paid dearly for his choice not to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus. The former world number 1 had to skip the Australian Open and the US Open, seeing his eternal rival Rafael Nadal run away in the all-time Grand Slam rankings.
The Serbian phenomenon did not even take part in the American Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal and Cincinnati), in addition to having suffered serious damage to its image. After the disappointment he suffered at Roland Garros, Nole revived his year by triumphing at Wimbledon for the fourth time in a row.
The 35-year-old from Belgrade has thus equaled his idol Pete Sampras with seven wins in London, taking him to just one distance behind Roger Federer. The ‘Djoker’ is busy this week at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he hopes to break a fast that has lasted since 2015.
In a long interview granted to ‘TRT’, 19-year-old Serbian Hamad Medjedovic talked about how much Djokovic has helped him in the last years.
Medjedovic praises Djokovic
“I remember this one thing which Novak Djokovic told me this is engraved in me he told me to believe in my game and in my shots,” Medjedovic said.
Medjedovic elaborated further, saying Djokovic told him to rely on his “really good shots” during difficult moments in a match. “He told me that I have really good shots and I should believe in them and when the difficult moment on the court comes I should rely on those shots,” he added.
Rafael Nadal lavished praise on his arch-rival Novak Djokovic in a recent interview, hailing the Serb for how far he is willing to go to stick to his principles. “I think I have to say to Novak, he’s able to be super professional, to control his body, to hold the passion, doesn’t matter how things are going, he always keeps going till the end and that’s something very difficult, especially in a super long career after all the success,” Nadal said.
“To keep having the passion and love for the game, I think’s it’s something that I admire a lot.” Novak Djokovic also declared that their mutual respect helped push each other to the limit, serving as additional motivation to keep one-upping one another.
“I’m really privileged to have the rivalry that we had over the years, I think we respect each other a lot and we push each other to the limit and kind of motivate each other to go even higher, so it’s great to be part of that there,” Djokovic said.
