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
17 май 2024
