He’s broken the Federer-Nadal stranglehold on tennis to become the new world number one, but what else is interesting about Novak Djokovic?
He has beaten Nadal five times this year.
That’s every time they’ve met, a stat which was central to the workings of the ranking points system which meant that Djokovic would have taken over as the new world number one today irrespective of the outcome of Sunday’s final.
His previous wins came in the finals of the ATP World Tour events in Rome, Madrid, Miami and Indian Wells. Djokovic has lost just three sets to Nadal all year, so it was probably a surprise that the Serb went into Sunday’s Wimbledon decider as the underdog.
Nadal is the first Wimbledon champion other than Federer and Nadal since 2002, and the first world number one apart from those two since 2004. All in all, the tide has definitely turned.
He’s a dog-lover.
A poodle, to be precise. Pierre goes everywhere with Novak, apparently. He was spotted sitting up at a Parisian cafe during the French Open, being fed Japanese food by his superstar owner. A noodle-noshing poodle. We’re not making this up.
Incidentally, Djokovic’s loving relationship with his pet seemed to give him more headaches than his on-court opponents during the Wimbledon fortnight, as a result of stringent animal transport regulations which meant Pierre was unable to make the journey to London for the crowning of his master. Poor pet.
He’s a funny guy.
Men’s tennis has suffered from a charisma deficit for many years. The days of John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Henry Laconte are long since gone. Andre Agassi plugged a gap for much of his career, when the likes of Pete Sampras were grinding opponents into dour submission. Goran Ivanisevic’s ridiculous unpredictability made him a must-watch. The rivalry between Nadal and Federer, which pushed each man to his limits and engineered the greatest final of all time, has made them much more appealing as a result.
But when it comes to charisma, the new number one is probably an improvement on both his immediate predecessors. It’s not all fun and games – he smashed a racquet to pieces during the win over Marcos Baghdatis at this year’s Wimbledon – but you can’t imagine many top tennis players of the past 20 years having the levity to engage in a bit of old-fashioned banter by impersonating his biggest rivals – a habit which has landed him the nickname “The Djoker”.
He’s into serious books and classical music.
“I don’t get a lot of time or chances to go [to the opera]. And I need someone I can share it with — you can’t go to the opera by yourself. There used to be Vittorio Selmi from the ATP. I went to his office and we sat down and listened to Don Giovanni on his laptop. I like classical music. It relaxes you and takes you to another world.”
Those words came from an interview with The Sunday Times in 2008, when he also spoke about his love of reading. He brings “two or three” books with him for every tournament, to take his mind off the tennis.
He loves pizza – but he can’t eat it any more.
Djokovic’s parents, Srdjan and Dijana, own a pizzeria and pancake place in Serbia and opened a new restaurant in Belgrade in 2009, which they called “Novak”.
But while their son admits he loved pizza, pasta and pancakes, it turns out he can’t eat them any more – and those dietary changes have played a significant part in his ascent to the top of the tennis tree over the past 12 months.
His doctor and nutritionist, a fellow Serb called Igor Cetojevic who has also studied Chinese and Indian traditional medical practices, discovered that Djokovic suffered from food allergies.
Earlier this year Novak said, “He’s done a great job in changing my diet after we established I am allergic to some food ingredients like gluten. It means I can’t eat stuff like pizza, pasta and bread. I have lost some weight but it’s only helped me because my movement is much sharper now and I feel great physically.”
[Main picture via Wikimeda Commons]
