Novak Djokovic: Become #1 In The World At Your Craft and Build a Champions Mindset EP 1137

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This is episode number 1,137 with one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Novak Djokovic.

Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis how former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

Today we're bringing back one of my favorite interviews with Novak Djokovic. He is currently ranked as world number one by the association of Tennis Professionals and Djokovic has been number one for a record of over 320 weeks. And I felt inspired this last week as I watched him win his his 20th Grand Slam title in Wimbledon. And I wanted to reflect back on our conversation from 2017 and also an interview that we never published that I'm going to be putting together towards the end of this interview as well that I did with Jay Shetty and Novak right before the pandemic last Year we never published this interview. So I wanted you to have both of these together to get the full context of where he's been throughout his journey and what he's been up to lately. So this is going to be very powerful. And in this episode, we discuss how Novak started playing tennis and how he persevered through so many different traumatic, traumatic experiences during childhood. How Novak recovered from his lowest point in his life, how to understand the power of the mind to build a champions mindset, and what love means to Novak and why it's so important for him. This is a very special episode. Again, me and Jay Shetty spent some time with Novak for a full day playing tennis and basketball, and we went golfing and did all these different sports together and really got to kind of just see behind the scenes more of how he thinks, how he acts, how he trains. And so this one is very powerful. And Novak's determination in his life and off the court is truly special. And I know you're going to love this interview today. So if you're enjoying it, make sure to share this with a friend, post it on social media, Tag me. Tag Novak Joe Conviction as well over on Instagram or Twitter. And of course, subscribe to the School of Greatness podcast if you have yet to subscribe or if this is your first time here. Okay, in just a moment, I bring you the one and only Novak Djokovic.

All right, guys, welcome back to the.

School of Greatness podcast.

We have the legendary Novak Djokovic.

That's great in the house, man. You pronounce it very well.

You pronounce it the way you told me to.

Thank you for having me.

I'm super excited about this. This is your first podcast.

First podcast, yes.

And we had lunch a couple days ago. Your wife Elena introduced me to you. She had found, I guess, some of my information somewhere, our podcast somewhere. And reached out, asked me to do an interview with her.

We had a great conversation.

She was like, you have to meet my husband. You love him. And I said, okay, I don't really know much about you. And then she was telling me all these things about you, about how you really are here. Yes, to be the best tennis player.

That you can be, but to make.

A massive impact in the world and that you constantly want to give back and you want to spread love and joy and bring humanity together. And I said, okay, if he's more than just an athlete, then I must meet this guy.

She gives best introductions of me, I must say.

Exactly.

I'm very grateful to have her in my life. And I think it starts from there, really. Emotional stability, the love first towards yourself, of course, but then. And being able to share love and share everything that you experience in life with your partner is something that brought a lot of joy, a lot of inner peace, and a lot of success later on in my life. She's probably the only serious relationship I ever had, as I was telling you the other day in lunch. But she'll probably not agree with that. She's like, yeah, but you had the girlfriend three and a half months before me. Okay, yes, I had, but we started dating. I was 18, she was 19, and now we've been married for four years.

No.

What is it? I'm gonna get in trouble. I have the ring on, darling.

It's fine.

Yeah, so. But we. We have two beautiful children, and it's great to be able to share my life with her.

Yeah, it's amazing. Now, you started tennis when you were four, is that right? Started playing at four.

I started when I was. Yeah, started when I was four years old. And, you know, story goes like this. Basically, I. Nobody has touched the racket before me in my family, so I don't have any tradition that I inherited to play tennis. Tennis was never a big sport in our country before that. We do. We did have Monica Seles, for example, I don't know if you remember her. And she came over to States, and she played for Yugoslavia at that time, and then she played for States as well. So she was our biggest star. We had, you know, Slobodan Boba Zhevojinovic, who was top 20 of the world singles and first in doubles. But that's as far as we go in Serbia. Croatia, on the other hand, had more success. They had Gordon and Ivanishevic and Pilich, and, you know, all these guys that were top three four two in the world and winning Grand Slams and so forth.

So.

But tennis was never a big sport. You know, we're. We're more a nation of team sports.

Basketball, you know, soccer.

Soccer and handball. Volleyball, water polo. I mean, we had huge amount of success in those sports.

Water polo.

You guys are Olympic champions, weren't you?

I mean, these guys are. They're one of the most dominant teams in all sports and ever. Ever. I mean, these guys haven't lost a game, like, in 10 years. You. They're amazing. So. Yeah, and then I grew up with my family in one mountain resort in Serbia called Koponik. My parents had restaurant business there. We used to go commute between the capital city Belgrade, where I was born and where we basically lived and went to school. And Koponik often because of the business that was. We lived out of.

Yeah.

And the restaurant was in Belgrade.

No restaurant was on the mountain. So the mountain was quite popular in those days with, you know, summer and winter and all you.

Exactly.

Snowboarders.

But then as the wars came after that, unfortunately became only a very seasonal thing just to go and get a couple months of skiing and that's all. And they were building three tennis courts actually in front of that restaurant when I was 4. It was 1991. It was just, I think the year before the war started, actually, when Yugoslavia broke apart, and we still had a lot of foreigners coming and so forth. So it was a lot of interest for tennis because tennis is a sport that was born in France and in England and more aristocratic environments. Tennis is sport of gentlemen. It's not a very easily accessible sport, affordable sport, like maybe basketball, soccer, football, those type of sports. So I fell in love with it right away. I mean, I helped workers make the court. In return, I was bringing some beers to them as a small kid. Yeah, I was eager. I was curious as any other child, what is going on here? So finally I found out it's tennis. I just became aware that I'm alive four years old. I mean, I was that. And I was like, okay, Dad, I would like to see what's going on here and maybe eventually get a racket. And so I started asking and then begging and then, please. So eventually he said, great, here you go. Racket ball. And then tennis camps started to come over from Belgrade and different cities in Serbia. I joined right away. The first camp that I saw there was a bunch of kids coming from different cities in Serbia. And it was like a program for a week because it was so close to the restaurant, which my parents had. I just kind of walked there and hang on the fence and just try to understand what the sport is. And I started watching it on tv, and then rest of it is history. You know, I really was very fortunate to meet that same year, I think, or the year after. I like to call her my tennis mother. She has greatly influenced my tennis career, my life as well. My parents were really kind and they trusted her so that she can have influence off the court on me as well, which is tricky to do as a parent, you know, I mean, especially if you have a child that is. That. Is that young, you as a parent, you. You believe that you have everything that the child needs in order to, I guess, help him Develop into mature and healthy, you know, human being. And so you, as a parent, you always think like, okay, who is going to be the mentor of my child? Both my mom and dad were really happy with, I guess, quality of person that Jelena Gencic was. And she used to train also with Monica Seles and so forth. So she was probably the best person I could have at that stage. And she saw me right away. She said, okay, you have great talent. She told my parents, she said, okay, this kid can be number one of the world.

Five years old.

And that was exactly. It was at six or seven, after.

You were playing for a little bit.

For a few years.

But she said right away, she said, okay. It was something different because I came to the first tennis practice ever. I came in with little bag and a little extra T shirt. I had a little bottle of water and whatever I prepared that I was very, very much into it. I wanted to be ready. So she found that very odd, and she found that very special. So she said, there's something about him that is different. And she was telling my parents that they should support me. Bear in mind that those were 90s and we had two wars and we had all this bunch of different difficulties, adversities in life that we were facing, which was making it as difficult as much difficult for my parents to support me and to become a tennis player and to pursue my dream. And it was, as we talked about it five minutes ago, I mean, it's an expensive sport, you know, you gotta afford record, coaches, all this stuff. But we went through all this stuff, and my father saw that spark in my eyes and said, okay, this is what you're going to do.

Amazing, man, this is crazy.

So.

So do you think that if she didn't say that you could be number one in the world, do you think you would have actually become it without having someone else believe in you? Or was that belief early on?

You know, I usually don't like to play with these questions.

What if? What if?

Because I believe that everything in life happens with a reason and for a reason. I think if we have to think about it, I don't know if I would actually pursue the career of a tennis player if it wasn't for the belief and support that I had for my parents and her. Really. Of course I fell in love with the sport. But when you're that young, kids are curious. So we play different, you know, different sports. You engage yourself and who knows where the, I guess, the path takes you, you know, And I did play other sports as Well, I mean, I did skiing because it was mountain. My father was a professional skier, my aunt, my uncle. They were all competitors, and they were all competing on a high level, in a regional level and European level. So that's actually how my parents met as well. My father was an instructor, and she was skiing. And so the whole thing, you know, and then here I am, you know, so ski skiing was, and still is today, great passion of mine.

Really?

Yes.

But you're right.

If I haven't had her and my parents saying, okay, there is something that you should pursue here in this sport, I probably would play other sports and probably the sports that were more popular, you know, with friends.

Yeah.

You know how it is. I mean, when you're that young, you want to play sports and you want to belong to a group, to a little community, whatever. So nobody was really. There were not many kids playing tennis because it was expensive, it was not affordable, it was isolated. It was not maybe as much fun as some other team sports because, you know, when you're playing soccer or basketball, it's more fun like this. Exactly. You're more isolated, more individual. You do play, you know, of course, in groups and so forth, in camps and stuff like that, but half of the time you're spending it by yourself on one side of the net, and that's all you got.

That's crazy.

Now, the first war, you went through two wars in Serbia, right?

The first war, you were six, seven.

Yeah, I was five, I think. 92. Yeah. That's when.

And that one was the lesser of the two wars. Is that right? It was still, you know, bombs everywhere.

But it wasn't as hard as the.

So the first war was more in Croatia and Bosnia. It was between, you know, Serbs and Bosnians and Croatians and that. And then the whole. The whole Yugoslavia, it was once a big country with six, seven states that, you know, fall apart. The war lasted for a long time, I think three, four years. And there was a lot of victims. Nobody wins in war. I mean, it's a terrible thing, but I didn't feel it. My family didn't feel it in Belgrade, in Serbia, as much as people. These areas of Bosnia and Croatia felt it.

Gotcha. The second war was the one you felt the most, right?

Yes.

When you were around 12.

I was 12, and I remember, actually I celebrated my birthday during those two and a half months of bombing. And I was turning 12, and I still remember that scene. Actually, we were having this, like, a little birthday party at this tennis club. So as kids, we, of Course, we were frightened. We were scared. We were. We didn't know what tomorrow brings. But at the same time, as a child, you don't really have the worries that adults have. So you're living in the moment. And for us, it was great that we get to spend more time playing tennis, having fun than in school. So it was like, oh, great. You know, we get to do that and that. We don't get to sit, you know, for hours and hours, but we get to actually play.

There was no class during that time?

No, absolutely not. No, no, no. It was. School canceled, everything. Just many people flee and just wow. It was one of these things that it was not like from one day to another. We were kind of warned about it months prior to when it happened, but I think super majority of people really didn't believe that that's going to happen. Really imagining that, you know, you sit here and you see planes, you know, dropping bombs here and there. I mean, it's. And everything is trembling and the windows are breaking and everybody's screaming and the whole city, I mean, the whole country was basically bombed. It was because of the part of Serbia at the time, it was Kosovo. That was the whole thing. I mean, not to get into politics because it just gets ugly. You know, it was one of these things where you just don't know that feeling of insecurity, helplessness. It's terrible because, you know, we as human beings, we like to have control of environment, of where we live, what we're going to do, you know, of our experiences and this. We was completely taken away from us. And there was this higher power from above that could do anything to anybody. And you could be a collateral damage any minute, basically.

So did you see bombs dropping every day?

Oh, yeah.

Every day, yeah.

Yeah. I didn't see it myself. I heard it, of course, I felt it. I've seen. I have this image still in my mind where I think it was the first week when it actually started, and we were still very, very much, of course, afraid. And we were running to the shelters and my father's sister, so my aunt, she lived with her family about, you know, three, 400ft away from our building. So we had. We lived in one building, she had another building and her building had underground shelters and our didn't. So we literally, for every night, for first couple weeks, we ran like around 2, 3am that's when it started to.

The bombs.

The bombs started to come. Yeah, exactly. That's when we, we were going there. So we just wake up, pack our things Cry a little bit, scream, whatever, and then just take our. Whatever necessities and just go there. So we would spend two weeks, most of the nights in those. In those underground shelters. And I remember, I think one of the first nights, I. And you see, it's, you know, it's obviously middle of the night. It's, you know, pitch darkness, and all of a sudden you see these flashes of light everywhere, you know, explosions. You feel the ground trembling. And it was a devastating experience. And then I remember us running. It was one night. It was, I think, the third night, second or third night of bombings. I was 12. I have two younger brothers. The middle brother was eight. The youngest brother was four. So the middle brother, he was running as well with our dad. And my mom was carrying the youngest one, so I was behind. I dropped something, so I picked it up. I was losing my footing, so they didn't hear me because of the noise. So it was distance. And I was frightened. I'm going to be left alone. So as I was running, I trembled on the rock. I fell down and I turned around and then I could see this. I don't know, it's F16 plane or something like this. They call it the invisible one. So just like huge speeds, just flew and dropped something there, which was very close. It was military hospital I was telling you about. No, I mean, just those kind of images are stuck in your mind forever. But at the same time, as I was telling you, I feel like that has shaped me into the person I am today, has helped me to be more appreciative of life, give more value. I'm more grateful. And just because of everything that has happened in those 10 years, actually, because after the first war to the second war, the whole country was. We had embargo, so there was no imports, lack of gas for cars. There was bread and milk. You had lines of people accused, like, very long ones, so you had to wait, like, hours to get bread. And all these different. Different things that have happened, it made me and my family and all the people, Serbia, more resilient, you know, and just more. Just tougher, you know, for whatever challenges that we face in life, for whatever adversities out there. And I think that some people stayed stuck in that emotion of maybe hatred and revenge type of feeling. I am not, and I don't believe that's the right thing to do, because then you feel like you're a prisoner of your own emotions in your life, because you can't blame anyone, can't blame people of any country for what has happened because it's not their fault. You know, some. Maybe decisions of some head of states or militaries or whatever. I mean, in the end of the day, if you carry this for all your life, does it really make any change for you? It's going to enrich your life. I mean, it's not. So you cannot ask people to forget. And that's one thing that I realized because I was fortunate not to lose anyone that is close to. To me, my family, my brothers, everyone is good, is healthy, also cousins and so forth. Everybody's okay. But, you know, I know people that lost their parents, they lost somebody very close, and they lost homes, they lost lives, and they had to start over, you know, from scratch. I think almost half a million refugees and even more, I mean, God knows how many people died. And you can still see. And then one day, I hope you'll come to Belgrade and you still see the traces of that. You still see buildings that are ruins. And since 99.

Wow.

And it's funny, but they use it as a touristic attraction today, you know, as well. Whatever.

So.

But it's hard to ask people, hey, just forget about it. You cannot forget about it. You cannot. It's one of these things that is. That is deeply engraved into your subconscious, into your emotions, into your memory. But I think you can get over it and let it go. And that's something that I felt like I've managed to do it myself, and many people did, but, you know, many people also didn't. The wounds are fresh. It happened. I mean, what is 99? It's almost, you know, not even, you know, 20 years ago, so it's still relatively fresh.

And it was in your childhood. I mean, it was a time in your teens, I guess, right before you became a teenager.

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it was intense, man, I couldn't even imagine. Yeah, it's intense, you know, and two.

And a half months, you said every day. Right.

That's why.

I mean, it hurts me every time I hear about refugees, every time I hear about bombings, about war and what's happening in, you know, in Syria and Middle East. It's just in Syria. Let's take Syria, for example. I mean, I had one incredible experience that. I mean, I've never cried that much in my life. I became a UNICEF ambassador of goodwill for the region 10 years ago, and then in the meantime, became the global ambassador. And as I become global ambassador some.

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Quince.com Lewis I start to different things for UNICEF and my foundation because UNICEF and my foundation are collaborating. And I remember it was a year, year and a half ago. It was just recently. I mean when the whole Syria war started, it was a hu thing in Europe because probably third or quarter or third of the country just left. Can you imagine you have 12 million people in Syria and it was 3 or 4 million people left the country.

Crazy.

Probably even more now today because they lost homes, they lost their lives, they lost their close ones. What they're going to do, they want to, you know, search. They want to go to some place that will offer them roof above their heads and social help that they don't have in their country because it's completely devastated, it's completely destroyed. So, you know, many, many like thousands and tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of refugees went through Serbia to go to Germany, Austria, I guess, the bigger countries in Europe. And so we were on their trajectory.

Right.

I went to visit one of those kind of locations that was offered from a city as resting place as shelters, temporary homes for, for the people passing through. And it was one of the hotels in town in Belgrade. They gave them the whole lobby area, the whole floor. As I came over, I already start to feel this. Obviously I do a lot for my foundation and so forth. And it touches your hearts because we're going to talk about it in a minute, but we focus a lot on education and it's a different thing. You don't get to see the devastation, the hurt, the pain as much. You see that, but not as much as you see it. I knew kind of could predict what's going to happen and what awaits me. So I start to feel all of a sudden these emotions because I've been fortunate. I haven't been a refugee myself, but I know many of my friends and people around me that are refugees of the wars during 90s. So as I. As I come in and I'm supposed there's a camera, I think it was CNN and a couple other cameras, and they wanted me to record a message for people being there to ask for help, to raise funds to help the refugees and to build homes for them and so forth. And as I came in and then you see different rooms. There is a playroom, then there is a resting room, and so forth. And the look on these people's faces was something that was, wow, boom. Right away, first impression was like, pain, insecurity, devastation, sadness. It's just all these emotions and just they were flowing, literally, they were flat. They didn't know what's happening. I mean, they're like, okay, we're here now, but where are we walking? Where are we going? What's going to happen? Where is our life tomorrow? So as I'm walking into this small area, play area for children, there are plenty of children there. I observe them for a little bit. And then one of the volunteers there tells me, why don't you join them? You know, try to. So I didn't know how to react. Honestly, I was there, I didn't want to. You know, I wanted to be with them. At the same time, I don't want to be in their space because I could feel the emotions. I could feel what they're going through. So I start playing around, and 10 minutes later, I really got into it. There was a couple of children around me, and we started playing with toys and measuring things and whatever. It was really cool. And then somebody taps my shoulder, and it was one of the people from unicef, and she came with the mother of a child that I was playing with. And she was a girl. I was probably not even two, two and a half years old.

Yeah.

And she told me her mom came here to pick her up. It's time to go. I thought to myself, where. Where are they gonna go?

Right?

What's gonna happen? I mean, it's. Sorry. I just. It's. It's. It's even today, it's. Yeah, it's just so emotional, you know, because I don't know where. Where they went. You know, it's like having this. This. This girl and mom taking a boy who was 6, 7 years old and this little girl. They're traveling God knows where by foot. No home, no nothing behind them, you know, and then in front of them. So. And then I was supposed to tell something in the camera. I'm like, guys, like, now. I mean, I can't speak. I can't speak because it's just one of these things that breaks your heart, you know, and it's just. Sorry. That's what war does. That's what war does. But at the same time, time, I'm really grateful that I've been through that, through this experience, through wars and 90s and all these things, because it made me more human, it made me more connected with other people. Because whatever happens in the world, I know that we are all going through that experience of trying to live, trying to take the best out of this life experience for ourselves. And I think going through those emotions and those experiences in past just allowed me to be more warm hearted towards people and I feel that I get the same and.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah.

Wow, man. Thanks for sharing that story. Yeah.

I'm sorry, I just. It was one of these things that is. That is really. It just stays with you. It stays with you. And I like to look back to it. As much as it hurts me, I like to go back to it and then understand that what I have in life and how fast I can lose all of that if I don't appreciate it, if I'm not living in the present and knowing that there are people like that even today, going through all of this and us being in this incredible life and having this fortune to be successful and to be heard as well, you know, everything that we say, you know, there are thousands of millions of people following you, myself, children that are looking up to us and then saying, okay, I mean, this is something that I can use to be better and I want to be like him. So I think having this in my subconscious, all these experiences in the past and never forgetting about that keeps me grounded, keeps me aware that everything I say is heard in these places that really need your advice, that need your help, they need your light. So, you know, it's all about sharing that light and sharing that. That love.

Yeah. Wow, man. What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned from war, from that whole experience?

Personally, the biggest lesson that I've learned is probably that I should be always kind to anyone and everyone, no matter what experience they go through. Because you never know. You never know what one person goes through. You just always be kind. Because there is something, something that we call God, universe, angels. There is this higher force above and here in this planet that is going to help us to live a prosperous life, to be happy, to be healthy, to be joyful, to have that peace if we truly respect and appreciate ourselves and others in that process as well.

Wow.

Now, were you able to. To even think about tennis. You know, you had this dream of being number one at 4, 5, 6. And then during the war time, were you still thinking, oh, this is something I could still do, or I have no clue where I'm going to be tomorrow because these bombs are right around me within miles. Were you able to practice? Were you just.

Not sure.

Were you just trying to, you know.

Oh, I was practicing big time, every day. I was, as I told you, you know, I.

That was your time with no school.

Exactly. No school. I mean, I enjoyed school, I think it's great. But at the same time, I like to be on the tennis court more, you know, because I was completely in love with it and just huge passion of mine. And I started to do better and better and started to win some local tournaments. I was, you know, 11, 12 years old. And during those two and a half months of bombing, we actually spent after the second week was done, because in the first couple weeks we were like, okay, let's just survive, you know, and let's just figure things out. We don't know what's gonna happen. And then after the second week, we're like, okay, this is gonna happen. God knows how long it's gonna go for, so we might as well continue living our, so to say, normal, everyday lives. Whatever. Whatever that is, you know. And so I spent a lot of time on tennis courts and we had a lot of tournaments. And I actually remember I haven't been part of it, but I was still young, I was too little. But there were people that were organizing this so called target group activities. So they would, because they were bombing our bridges as well. So they would go out on one of, like, most important bridges that connects the two important parts of the town. So people would go there literally more or less every day with T shirts that would have, like a target drawn on them and also on their faces, they would like draw targets or on their, you know, top of their heads and they would sing songs. They would be together, united. And that was like a message out there, okay, we are the target. Try to do something now like, this is us. We are here. So thankfully, nothing happened there. But that was how powerful this whole experience was for people to get together. It was devastating. It was all these things that we talked about. There's something positive out of it, is that people survived because. And we got through it as people, as country, because we were together, we were united. And we talked about it the other day on the lunch is that I was complaining to you a little bit about Serbian people, that we are not united when we are supposed to be.

Right.

We are united down. Exactly. I tell you that joke.

Yeah.

I think especially younger generations at that time, they were like, okay, this is our time to be rebellious. You know, when you're younger, you're rebellious, you know, you want to be part of those activities, and it's fun.

So.

So we. We try to turn it into fun.

Yeah.

You know, as much as we could during bombings.

Crazy.

Exactly. Yeah.

Now, when did you start to fully believe in yourself that you were able to achieve what you wanted to do in tennis? When did the belief sit in where you're like, yes, this is possible for me?

Oh, very early. I knew already I'm going to become number one of the world. Like, I was seven, I think I was. It was probably first. Was the first TV show I had. Like, I was guest in one of these kids shows and on national stars or something, whatever, something like that. And I said that tennis's commitment is my obligation, is something I have to do. I mean, I was already. I was so disciplined, you know, at that time. And they say that there's a great quote about discipline. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. Right. So whatever in life you envision to do, you got to be disciplined, you know, discipline spiritually, discipline in sports and whatever in your family, in your relationships. So very early, I think, and my parents and my tennis mother, Jana Gencic, they've deeply ingrained that discipline in me. And then I knew. I mean, already seven, eight, I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I knew it was very clear. What is strange about it is that if you take in consideration all the circumstances in which I've grown up as a child, it was very odd. And there was many people that were laughing at it. And it's just my father had to. He went through so much. I'm eternally grateful to both my parents. And my father has borrowed money from people that were chasing him in car. I mean, you would not imagine the experiences that he had and we had in order for. For me to travel to the United States, for example, for the first time in my life. And during those 90s, I mean, and because embargo and all the things, the criminal rate raised, so there was a lot of kidnapping and different stuff. And it was. It's not even close like that now. It's great. It's fantastic. It's safe and it's all fine. But during those seven, eight years, it Was really tough. People were scraping and people were fighting for their lives, basically surviving. It's a matter of, like, you take one bread or two breads, it makes difference, you know, you need to stay in line and God knows if you're going to have a bread in a week, you know, so it was literally that kind of survival mode for everyone. So I think from very early stages of my life, I knew what I wanted to do, but not just what I wanted to do, but what I wanted to achieve, what is, what is going to be my accomplishment in what I do. And I think because I had these objectives in life, I managed to have the mental clarity, managed to kind of tennis. And Andre Agassi is my coach now. I'm proud to have him in my team. He always, you know, in tennis, you work from top backwards from basically setting up a goal and then you work your way back and you know exactly the whole season how it's going to look like. Because this is my season goal, let me work my way back to this moment. So this is probably a definition of how I felt at that moment mentally, and the plans that I had, the visions that I had. I was seven. I already, I was making, like, out of plastic or like a little paper materials. I was making the Wimbledon trophy. I was lifting, you know, and stuff like this. It was very, very clear in my mind that that's going to be my mission.

Have you ever doubted yourself going on to, you know, and being a professional and going against some of these top players for the first time? Did you ever have doubt or were you always like, I can beat them. I can be the best?

Yeah, I had plenty of doubts and plenty of doubtful moments. Probably the one that stands out the most was back in 2010 when I was already, you know, number three of the world. I was already a Grand Slam winner. I was established player in top five in the world already three, four years before that.

So.

So I was already into it. One of my first Grand Slam in Australian Open in January 2008. I was 20 years old, and it was a dream come true, the whole trajectory. I mean, I was very successful in junior days and everything. It was just, I had this upward kind of spiral and trajectory in my tennis career, in my life, and everything was great doing, you know, it was. Everything was great. And then all of a sudden I had this period of, of two and a half, three years where I didn't win a Slam, really. I was. I was managing to be 3, 4 in the world, but I just, I struggled a lot and for me, being number three of the world wasn't enough. I just, I was not satisfied with that. And I just, I always go back, say, wait, okay, When I, When I was 7, 8 years old, my dream, my life goal was always to be number one and win Wimbledon. That's it. And I need to achieve that no matter what. But then I reach a kind of mentally low point in my career. I think it was after Roland Garros, you know, one of the four Slams. And I lost. I was two sets to love up. I lost in five sets in quarterfinals against a guy called Jurgen Meltzer. He was top 10 in the world, very good player. But I had him. I mean, I had a match and I just lost. I just had a breakdown. I remember going first to my parents and, you know, talking about this and that, and I just, I cried and I, like, I don't know if this is worth it. I don't know know if I should keep going. And. And my father was like, tough enough, toughen up, you know, you know, like. But it was, it wasn't enough. Like, I felt I needed to think about it more, I felt I needed to share more. So I went to my coach at that time, Marian Vaida, and my, One of my best friends in life and my former physiotherapist, Milan. And I was in their room and I remember sitting on the floor again, I had another breakdown and I was saying, I don't know, you know, and they were like, okay, take your time. Let's first, first, okay, breathe and let's calm down, let's look back, you know, and they were really, really wise for telling me, like, let's go look back first. Why did you start playing this sport and the whole thing? Do you love it? You know, leave aside what you want to achieve, what you want to do, passion for, you know, but do you really like holding record in your hand? And then I'm like, actually, I do. I really, I love holding a record in my hand. Whether it's a Grand Slam, center court, finals, whatever, or it's just a normal, you know, public court. I still like playing for the sake of. They're like, well, that's your source. That's what you need to tap into. And that's take a little bit of time. And literally they thought it's going to take a few weeks. Next day, I'm like, okay, I'm back on track, let's go, let's keep going. And I never looked back ever since that moment. I remember the next term was Wimbledon probably played semifinals. And then after that, I won Davis cup with my country, with my guys. End of that, 2010. That was one of the highlights of my career. And then after that, I won. Went into having 43 matches win in a row, and I had that streak. I became number one.

How long is that for?

That was. It's like almost six months.

Six months? You didn't lose one match?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was a set, but not a match, right? Not a game.

Yeah. Holy. No, that was. It was. McEnroe and myself. We hold the record for longest streak over history. I. Okay, so this is. If you go.

If you go.

If you go online. So wait, wait. So if you go online, you will say, John McEnroe, 42. Novak Djokovic, 41. Oh, no.

Why?

Because they didn't count the two matches of the guys that retired the matches to me, so they didn't count them as wins. And I would have the 40. But. Okay, John. Okay, John, you have it.

You have it, John.

Okay.

You have it.

So it's. John. Yeah.

You were just in the zone.

It was unbelievable. And it just gave me. It gave me wings. I mean, I just. I felt all of a sudden that I started to play and play freely between winning the first slam and that moment that was three years. And I felt like I was playing for the wrong reasons. I was playing because I wanted to achieve. I wanted this. I wanted to lift trophies. I wanted to do this and that, and that's okay. But that's secondary, primary, so to say motivation needs to be what inspired you to start playing, what made you fall in love with the sport. And that is the love, the joy, the passion for it, to play it. I, all of a sudden became the kid that I was when I started. I fel. So much power and energy, and I just. Exactly. So I never looked back after that.

Amazing man. We have a few minutes left, and I want to ask, like, a thousand more questions. So I'm going to be very mindful of this. The thing you're most proud of, that maybe a lot of people don't know about, maybe that's not this big public announcement, but something you've done recently or any time in your life that you're most proud of.

I usually don't like to praise myself. I don't. I don't feel like that. I usually leave this to other people and all. Also, I don't feed myself out of someone else complimenting me, because I find my happiness inside. I find that working on my own Character, virtues and features is something that is essential to me. And being able to establish this kind of inner peace and happiness in life, regardless of what's happening externally is essential because it keeps me connected to myself, to other people, to planet, to universe. Start point. Things that I have done, I've done with, with my pure heart and intention. It's hard to pick one because I remember during the bombings, I remember I was going in our neighborhood and sharing the food with our families, with our children, giving clothes away because it's not something that is very special, but it felt very special at that time for me. I've done things after many, many other things and with philanthropy, with myself individually and also with our foundation. But again, going back to the times of the war, I think that's something that probably would stand out and something that I was very proud of and I'm proud of my. And I'm really grateful to my parents that they're able also to give me this kind of education and I guess consciousness about the fact that we're not alone in this world and that we need to share because sharing is caring.

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And so I remember going around the neighborhood and just offering my warmth and my friendship and my love and whatever I had at that moment. And then I felt more love than I probably ever felt. I mean, it's one of those moments where in the biggest of adversity, there's that's where your pure self surfaces. I'll probably mention that.

That's cool.

The thing you love about your wife.

The most honesty and compassion. We as men can't even imagine what women go through, especially women that have the experience of becoming a mother and all of that and going through the pregnancy, it's another level. It's another level of sacrifice. It's another level of pain. But it's another level of level of love and dedication to family and what matters the most. Having her in my life is one of the biggest blessings I could ever ask for, to be honest, and to this day I am trying to be, always remind myself what I have and what we have and how grateful I am.

That's cool. This is called the Three Truths. So if this was the last day for you many years from now, and for whatever reason, all the videos and interviews you've done and stuff you put out there is gone and no one has access to your information anymore. But you had a piece of paper and a pen to write down three things you know to be true or the three lessons that you've learned that you would share to the world and this is all they have to remember you by, these three truths, what would you say are yours?

I'll probably say live freely, breathe deeply and love Fully simple. It really comes to that. It comes to you, you being one with yourself and others and just being present. If I have to pick one of those three, which I guess is probably the biggest and most simple and odd lesson that I've learned in my life, is to breathe deeply and to learn how to breathe. Because when you learn how to breathe, which is something that we take so much for granted today, you learn how to live in the moment, to be mindful of yourself. You all of a sudden, you observe things from a different perspective. You are not as maybe impulsive. And all of a sudden everything opens up because we talked about it a minute ago. You have help. We have. The nature is there, the universe is there. There is something, and nobody can deny it. There is something that is there, that is out there watching for us, supporting us, loving us. But if we close our doors and we are living in a shell, how can we resist? Receive help. You gotta open some windows, right? Doors and then eventually have no shell. Live with no shell. Be authentic, be original. Pave your own path. Don't just follow the paths that society is telling you to. We need more creativity in this world. We need more innovations. We need more people that are free. Today's society is shaping us to be a bit of robotic beings. Just gotta do this, you gotta pay this, you gotta do that, you gotta follow this. You gotta try to understand what's the best experience for you, but at the same time, live freely and share it.

Powerful.

How can we best support you? What's the thing we can do to best support you? Make sure we follow you on social media. But is there a way we can support the foundation or a big cause that you're.

I leave this completely up to you that the thing that you can do best for me is to do best for yourself.

There you go.

That's all.

There you go. Well, before I ask the final question and get you out of here, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Novak, for your incredible ability to live for your dreams, but also make sure that you're inspiring the world in your dreams and not making it all about yourself. You are truly a global citizen of love. And for me, it's really inspiring to see that someone like yourself is in the world right now. Because when there is so much hate that's happening, specifically in America, you've been through the worst of the worst and come out on the other side with such a gay, giving heart. So I acknowledge you for all that you do for your country and for the world. You're an incredible human being. Yes. My man.

Thanks, brother. Thank you. And before you continue, I need to also say thank you for sharing that love as well. Thank you for bringing people with inspiring stories. Thank you for sharing passion for life and for greatness. We need to inspire people to dare to dream. And children, you know, today we need it more than ever. So thank you for that.

Yes, exactly. Final question is, what is your definition of greatness?

I thought you're never going to ask me that. I was like, okay, I'm going to get away with this. No, my definition of greatness for me is purpose. If you find your purpose, you're going to give purpose to others. And you and me as public figures, we have this responsibility, you know, even more. And I think that on whatever level of society you are or whatever experience that you go through, you are going to maximize your life's experience only if you find a purpose. And people will find their purpose because they will relate to the very same purpose that you are defining and that you are radiating and that you are portraying.

Make sure you guys follow this man all over the place on social media. We didn't even get into, like, the tennis mind set, the habits, the rituals, routines. That's going to be for another time.

When you're back in la, we'll do that.

Or when I'm in Serbia, Belgrade, right here.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

So next time we'll have to have Novik back on to talk more about that. But this was a powerful story, man, and I think it's going to help.

A lot of people.

So make sure you guys follow him.

Novak.

Thank you, Luc. Thank you.

Appreciate you.

I hope you enjoyed this first part of the interview with Novak. And now, now I want to bring you the second part where me and Jay Shetty interview him together into this new episode right here.

For me, it's super important to have clear goals and short term goals, long term goals. What are the goals for this season? What is the goal in the next three months? You know, check, check, check that. You know, go through that with my team, with myself, with my family. And then what is the long term goal? You know, and. And I think being clear with all these things, and I know that identification sometimes is maybe moving you further away from that harmony and that peaceful state, but I feel like in a professional sport is super important to identify and to be very clear with yourself why you are playing that sport, why you're doing this, why am I traveling? I have two kids at home waiting for me, and I don't see Them for five weeks. I mean, why am I doing that? There must be a super strong and good of a reason for me to be able to leave my kids and my wife at home and to not see them five weeks. And so winning is not enough. You know, there has to be. All these three things that I've told you about is something that fuels me every single day. And it's all a journey. It's all a journey. I try to tell myself, look, it's about the journey. It's not about destination. That's why I've also felt throughout my career, when I reached certain results, they were really big. For example, 2016, when I won French Open, I was holding all four Slams at the same time. Happened, I think, once in the history of sport.

All four in the same year?

All four?

No, it was not in the same year. It was in two different years. But I was holding it once. I was champion of all four slants, and I was, you know, dominant, number one. And everything was great. But I just didn't feel. I felt something, felt empty.

What was that?

It was the lack of the three things that I told you about. It was because I relied all my life's force and energy into achievements. Achievements. I got to do it. I got it. Okay, you've done it. And now what? How do you feel? And then I realized it's really not only. I don't want to say it's not about winning. It is about winning, but it's not only about winning. There has to be something that fuels your life's purpose, and it has to be. The life purpose has to be altruistic.

It be.

Has to.

It has to affect and concern others as a positive effect and consequence of what you do.

That's what I wanted to ask you because we got to experience your serve on the court, and you went 100% with us.

I'm pretty sure you mentioned it there.

That you do a lot of service off the court. You serve a lot off the court, and you and your wife believe in really helping the children of Serbia and just children in general. Tell us us about that purpose and mission, that legacy, because your legacy on the court is already there, like you're saying. But the legacy off the court is so meaningful to you. And even just when we were putting there, you were speaking about the work you and your wife are doing. Tell us about how that is now becoming a bigger part of your life at this moment.

Absolutely. Thank you for asking me that. Well, you asked me on the court whether I'm going to be considering the coaching career. So it's, I think, a logical trajectory in life for a tennis professional tennis player. So I'm working. We have a tennis club that is gonna in a few years time turn into a big tennis academy. And I definitely want to serve other generations, new generations of tennis players for my country, but also abroad through that concept and project of tennis academy that is hopefully going to go worldwide where I would like to implement this kind of philosophy, mindset and concept of an approach to life and to tennis and professional tennis and hopefully see it becoming a reality and rolling it out to as many children around the world as possible who choose to play tennis. We are, my wife and I, very active with preschool education and early childhood development, especially being young parents of a five year old and two year old. We understand how essential it is for the development of a young child to create an environment that is stimulative enough for a child to thrive and to grow into the best possible version of him or herself that they can possibly be. So we have now almost, we have opened and renovated almost 50 kindergartens in Serbia. We're focusing solely on Serbia because back in 2011, UNICEF provided us with some data that was staggering. There was over 50% of children in Serbia that did not attend any preschool programs. And it's not only about financial reasons, it was also cultural reasons. So we try to spread a lot of awareness about the importance of early childhood development because the neuroplasticity, right, the brain develops, the vast development of brain is 0 to 7. So that's super important to have your child exposed to as many creative and, and right things, you know, for his or her development. So we have over 20, I think 22,000 children in the program and we are collaborating with the World bank, with UNICEF and with many different partners. And my wife is, and also my parents have worked really hard to make this charity so big. We have a big team of 20 people and I'm very proud of all of them. They're doing tremendous work. And also as part of the non profit, my wife has set up a platform called Original. We talked about it when we were doing some putting on the golf range there.

And.

And she's focused on the young entrepreneurs and providing the right resources and information and the quality content through inspiring leaders and bringing them to Serbia from abroad or inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs in Serbia, in the region and providing those phenomenal access to these people and that content through young people to young people through the Original magazine, through the various conferences that happen during the year and events. So she's very passionate about it. I am, too. I'm fully supportive of her because she's doing a great job. And then, you know, there are other ways of always helping and being of service. You know, we're mostly focused on youth because. And children, because they hold the keys of the future of this world in their hands. And so this is the most constructive way of changing the world. I think, you know, of being able to provide, you know, quality service to young people and content and expose them to as much of a positive content as possible so they can learn, they can create things themselves, you know, and inspire them, motivate them, because in the end of the day, you know, someone has to follow up and someone has to, you know, make this world even a better place. And so this is what we're focused on.

Jay and I both had a chance to sit down with Kobe and interview him. When I sat down with him, we talked about you before the interview. We talked about how you were like a brother to him and he loves and how much he appreciated you and was inspired by you as an athlete. One of the questions I asked him was about his definition of love and when he felt the most love himself. So I wanted to ask you what. What does love mean to you, and when do you feel the most loved as well?

That's a really good question.

I think love. Love is. Love is existence. Love is life. Love is sun. Love is nature. Love is everything that we are, who we are and what we are made of and what surrounds us. And I think love is just also a vision of life. You know, if you see life through the lens of love, then life will be love for you, and. And everything that happens in life will serve that purpose and will be in your own interest, on your own good. But you can see it through other lenses as well. It just really depends on you. So love is the strongest emotion, the strongest force in the universe. And because of love, we are able to share these beautiful moments and play sports and be friends and talk about good things and hopefully inspire others. And I think when you love intensely and when you really nurture love, you open your heart and you open your mind. And when you do that, then you are more flexible and, I think, more forgiving and less judgmental and less ignorant. And that's why love is a concept, is something that is an inevitable force that penetrates every area of your life if you allow it. And I think, you know, if you focus on that, on that positivity or the abundance of the good feelings in your life because love is also happiness and joy. So if you love what you do, if you're happy with that, then of course you are linked to love. And then love is going to help you roll out all the other things.

And then.

As a positive consequence of all of that, you are going to become less angry, you know, less negativity, less doubt, less of those negative emotions that create, you know, blockages in your life and physically, health wise, mentally, emotionally, because, you know, there's so many people that talk about that and that every illness, you know, starts with some emotion that is not deeply suppressed or rooted in you. So if you are not aware, I think you know, also love is awareness and love is consciousness. Because if you're aware and conscious, then you're present. But if you're present, then you're able to love and able to experience life in its most beautiful colors. And that's, you know, I can talk.

About that all day.

When do you feel, when do you feel the most loved in your life?

When do I feel most loved? I feel most love towards myself and towards others when I'm most present.

So it could be on a tennis court with your family, with friends?

Absolutely. Because when you're present, you just, you told us about the plane and when you were, you know, trying to force some creative things, thoughts, some ideas to come to you when you were thinking about something but it wasn't coming. And then you did your gym session and then you were present because the activity makes you present. And then all of a sudden you had a flow of ideas, same thing. That's why regardless of what it is, when you're like present, then it means that you are fully engaged in that activity or the thought or whatever happens. And then you feel the most love for yourself and for others because then everything beautiful in life comes to you. And also a lot of negative emotions or things that bother you come as well. But when you're conscious, then it seems like you lower the intensity of those negative emotions. And it seems like the proportions or dimensions are just smaller. Because when you are not present, when you are thinking about the past or future, whatever, everything seems to be exaggerated. You know what I mean? And that's why, you know, with, you know, with this coronavirus or whatever is happening, you know, when you, when people are tense and when they're, when they're in fear, it's hard. It lowers the immunity, it makes them more susceptible for the viruses and all these different things. And that's another story. But anyway, you know, in the End of the day, I feel that you're most loved when you present because then you can actually feel what is happening inside. You can hear yourself. Because, you know, I believe that the inner voice, the intuition, the voice of God, whatever you want to call it, is constantly talking to you. Because I believe in the presence of God and universe and I believe in angels that talk to us. They whisper and guide us through life. But whether we hear them or not depends on us. How much debris do we have inside and how many layers. It just depends on our lifestyle really, what we eat, how we go about life, whether we breathe consciously, whether we are there, whether we're present, whether we surround ourselves in the right environment and whether we do things that are right in life or not. It's, you know, that's how it is. And it's that powerful because in the end of the day, you know, I was reading this book about the NLP right now and you know, it talks about the relationship between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. And the unconscious mind is like a little child that just follows the instructions without any rational or logical thinking. So, you know, you tell your subconscious mind, I am not feeling good, I'm this, I'm that, okay, no problem, you're not feeling good. You know, and in spirituality they talk a lot about that is where people treat their cancer illnesses and God knows what with, just with thinking, with emotions, with placebo effect, you know, I truly believe in that. I believe in it because I'm experiencing that on the court. I can see clearly when everything flows. I feel and I don't feel my body and my mind at the same time. It's amazing. It's just some kind of an out of body experience. A state where you're just, it seems like you're observing yourself from outside. It seems like you step, you kind of, it's like your spirit leaves your body and then everything is flowing so beautifully and you're there in your presence and you feel like your aura is growing. But then it's. One thought can change that. And that's why the life is, I believe, for all of us, a huge learning experience. And we've been sent here to really grow and understand ourselves on the deepest levels. And also, I believe, understand how and learn how to stay in the most present moment where you feel the most love, where you feel the most growth. And I mean, throughout my career I've been fortunate to play so many matches and so many years on the tour that I've noticed how easy it is to lose the confidence, lose that flow and how difficult it is to get it. But the more you focus on on that growth and you try to master it, the more kind of life allows you to stay, the longer life allows you to stay in that flow.

Thank you so much for listening to this interview. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did again, make sure to share this with someone that you think would be inspired, whether they're just a friend of yours, someone who plays tennis, an athlete, or someone who's looking to develop a champions mindset in their business and in their Life. Send them Lewishouse.com 1137 or just copy and paste this link wherever you're listening to this podcast. And if this is your first time here, then welcome to the Family of Greatness. Please click the subscribe button over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever you're listening so you can stay up to date on the latest and greatest with people like Novak Djokovic here on the School of Greatness. We love your feedback and thoughts. What was the most inspiring part about this episode? Leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and share what part of this interview you enjoyed the most. And I want to leave you with this quote from Wilma Rudolph who said, never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion. The potential for greatness lives within each of us. Yes it does. I love that quote. Loved connecting with Jay Shetty during this and always love connecting with Novak. Hope to have him back on here soon in the future because he just shares so much great insights at the top of his game. There's no one that is doing it as good as him in the world right now and he has been so consistent for so long. Such a pleasure getting to learn from him, practice with him, train with him. And I'm so glad you guys got to experience this as well. I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And don't you ever forget that. I'm so grateful for you and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.

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