The School of Greatness - 565 Novak Djokovic: Becoming #1 in the World and Overcoming the Odds

Episode Date: November 20, 2017

If you find your purpose, you're going to give purpose to others. - Novak Djokovic With everything going on in the world I think it's important now more than ever to spread hope, love, and inspiration. Today's guest is the very definition of all of those things. Novak Djokovic grew up during two wars in Serbia. As a child, he would be woken up at 2 am to alarms going off and be forced to head to a safe place. He saw the night's sky turn to light as he heard and felt the rumble of bombs being dropped around him. Through all of this Novak didn't turn to hate. Instead he turned to love and passion. He became the #1 tennis champion in the world.

This is episode number 565 with one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Novik Djokovic. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a 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. Joseph Campbell said, we cannot cure the world of sorrows,

but we can choose to live in joy. I am so thrilled and excited for our guest today. And for those that don't know him, his name is Novik Djokovic, and he is a Serbian tennis player who is widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time. He has won 12 Grand Slam titles and held the number one spot in the ATP rankings for a total of 223 weeks. He became the third man to hold all four major titles at once. He also won the bronze medal in men's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has been playing professionally since 2003 when he was 16 and had a 43-match winning streak at one time. He is a member of the Champions for Peace Club,

a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport. And in 2015, he was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. I am so pumped up, guys, because we go into the entire backstory of how Novak became into tennis in the first place, how he got onto the tour, but it was so much more before all this happened, before he became number one, before he became one of the best in the world. There was some things that he went through that I'm so glad

that he opened up and shared about. We cover why Novak chose not to stay stuck in a feeling of hatred and revenge after the Serbian wars that he was living through. Also, the story behind why he's so passionate about helping refugees. When he knew he would become number one in the world, and this story is fascinating to me, also how he got out of the mental pit of not being number one before he got there. out of the mental pit of not being number one before he got there. We talked about so many inspiring things and his humility, his grace,

the person and human being that Novak is, is truly inspiring for me. And I hope to bring him back on at some point to talk even more about the mental performance of everything that he's done. But man, this was just such a profound and powerful interview for me. So if you guys like Novak and you enjoyed this episode, then make sure to take

a screenshot right now and post it out on Instagram stories, on your Facebook, on Twitter. Again, the show notes where the full video interview and all the notes we talked about are at lewishouse.com slash 565. Powerful story, guys, and I'm glad that you're going to be listening to it, and please share it with your friends. Before we dive in, I want to give a shout out to the fan of the week. This is from Michael Fenner in New Jersey, who said, this podcast has dramatically altered the direction of my life. Lewis has the best podcast out there, and his guests are always so amazing. The School of Greatness my life. Lewis has the best podcast out there, and his guests are always so amazing. The School of Greatness is inspiring. It has helped me find

myself, my passions, redefine myself, and reignite that internal flame after a period of being lost. Thank you, Lewis, for your contribution to helping me in my life, and I'm sure many people feel the same way in their lives. And you know what time it is. It's time for greatness. So thank you, says Michael Fenner. I appreciate you very much, Michael. You are the fan of the week this week, my friend. So if you guys want to get shouted out on the podcast, then go ahead and leave a review over on iTunes or on the School of Greatness podcast app that you have on your phone and check it out and just leave your review. Someone on our team will pick out the best one of the week and make sure to send it to me for the review of the

week. All right, guys, I'm super pumped about this one. We have one of the greatest in the world. Without further ado, let me introduce to you to the one, the only Novak Djokovic. 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. I 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're going to love him. And I said, okay, I don't really know much about you. And then she was telling me all 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 must meet this guy. She gives the 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 being able to share love and share everything that you experience in life with your partner is something that, you know, 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. I was telling you the other day at lunch, but she'll probably not agree with that. She's like, yeah yeah but you had the girlfriend three and a half months before me okay yes i had but uh like we started dating i was 18 she was 19 and now we've been married for four years no what is it three 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 four years old, and the story goes like this. Basically, 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 did have Monica Selic, for example. I don't know if you remember her.

She came over to the States and she played for Yugoslavia at that time and then she played for the States as well. So she was our biggest star. We had Slobodan Boboživojinović, 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, you know, Goran Ivanićević and Pilić and, you know, all these guys that were top three, four, two in the world and winning grand slams and so forth.

But tennis was never a big sport. You know, we're more a nation of team sports, basketball, you know. Soccer. Soccer and handball, volleyball, water polo. I mean, we had a huge amount of success in those sports. Water polo, you guys are Olympic champions, weren't you? I mean, these guys are one of the most dominant teams in all sports ever. I mean, these guys haven't lost a game like in 10 years. You know, they're amazing.

I mean, these guys haven't lost a game like in 10 years. You know, they're amazing. So, yeah. And then I grew up with my family in one mountain resort in Serbia called Kopanik. 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 Kopanx often because of the business that we lived out of. Yeah. The restaurant was in Belgrade?

No, the restaurant was on the mountain. So the mountain was quite popular in those days with summer and winter and all. Couture mountain. Yeah, exactly. Snowboarders. But then as the wars came after that, unfortunately, it became only a very seasonal thing just to go 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 four. 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 there was a lot of interest for tennis because tennis is a sport that was born in France and in England in more aristocratic environments. Tennis is a 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. I was a small kid. Yeah, I helped the workers make the cord and return, you know, I was bringing some beers to them. I was a small kid. Yeah, I was eager. I was curious as any other child, what is going on here? So finally, you know, I found out it's tennis. I just became aware that I'm alive, you know, four years old. I mean, I was that young. And I was like, okay, dad, I would like to, you know, see what's going on here and maybe eventually get a racket, you know.

And so I started asking and then begging and then please, you know. 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 like 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 the 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 young, you as a parent, you believe that you have everything that the child needs in order to, I guess, help him develop into a mature and healthy, you know, human being. And so 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 Selesh 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 and i mean and that was exactly that was

it was at six or seven after you're playing for a little bit for a few years but but she said you know right away she said okay it was something different because i came to the practice first tennis practice ever you know i came in with a 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. And 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 and 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've got to afford a record, coach, 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 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 sports. You engage yourself and who knows where, I guess, the path takes you. 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, in 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. So skiing was, and still is today, a great passion of mine. 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. Team sports, 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's 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 it's more fun like this exactly you're more isolated more individual you do play you know of course in in groups and so forth and 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 uh five i think 90 92 yeah that's when and that one was the lesser of the two wars is that right it was still you know everywhere, but it wasn't as hard as the second one. So the first war was more in Croatia and Bosnia. It was between Serbs and Bosnians and Croatians

and the whole Yugoslavia. There was once a big country with six, seven states that 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. And 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. Schools canceled.

Canceled, everything. It's just many people flee. 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, I 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, and 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 a control of environment, of where we live, what we're going to do, of our experiences.

And this 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. Did you see bombs dropping every day? Every day. Yeah. I didn't see it myself. I heard it bombs dropping every day? Every day. 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, four hundred feet away from our building. So we had, we lived in one building, she lived in another building and her building had underground shelters and our didn't. So we literally for every night for first couple of weeks, we ran like around 2, 3 a.m. That's when it started to, the 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'll spend two weeks mostly nights in those in those underground shelters and i remember i think one of the first nights,

and you see, it's obviously middle of the night, it's pitch darkness, and all of a sudden, you see these flashes of light everywhere. You know, explosions, and you feel the ground trembling. 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 F-16 plane or something like this. They call it the invisible one. So just like huge speed just flew and just dropped something there, It's F-16 plane or something like this. They call it the invisible one.

So it just, like huge speed, just flew and just dropped something there, which was very close. It was the 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 experience has shaped me into the person I am today, like that experience 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, you know, queues, like very long ones. So you had to wait like hours to get bread.

And all these different things that have happened made me and my family and all the people in Serbia more resilient, you know, and just tougher, you know, for whatever challenges that we face in life, for whatever adversity is 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 they're it's not their fault you know some maybe decisions of some head of states or or 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 any change for you? Is it 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 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. Yeah, I would love to. And you still see the traces of that.

You still see buildings that are ruins since 99. Wow. And it's funny, but they use it as a touristic attraction today, you know, as well, whatever. 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 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 many people also didn't. The wounds are fresh. It happened, I mean, what is it, 99? It's almost 20 years ago.

So it's still relatively fresh. 99 it's it's almost you know not even you know 20 years ago so it's still relatively fresh it was in your childhood i mean it was a yeah a time in your teens i guess right before you became a teenager yeah yeah so yeah it was intense man it was 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 Syria and Middle East. It's just, in Syria, let's take Syria, for example. I had one incredible experience that 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 years ago, I start to different things for UNICEF and my foundation because UNICEF and my foundation are collaborating. And I remember it was, I suppose, a year and a half ago. It was just recently. I mean, when the whole Syria war started, it was a huge thing in Europe

because probably third or quarter or third of the country just left. Can you imagine that you have 12 million people in Syria and it was three or four million people left the country? Crazy. Probably even more now today because they lost homes, 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, 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. I went to visit one of those kind of locations that was offered from the city as a resting place,

as shelters, temporary homes for the people that are 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 here. I knew what 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 nineties. 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 refugees and to build homes for them and so forth.

And as I came in and then you see different rooms, there's a playroom, then there's 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 flat. 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 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 i didn't know how to react yeah honestly i i was

there i didn't want to you know i wanted to be with them but at the same so i i didn't know how to react yeah honestly i i was there i didn't want to you know i wanted to be with them but at the same time i don't want to be in their space because you know i could 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 and there was a couple of children around me and we start you know playing with toys and measuring things and whatever it was it was really cool and then 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 that was probably not even two, two and a half years old. And she told me her mom came to pick her up. It's time to go. I thought to myself, where are they going to go? What's going to happen? I mean, it's... Sorry, I just...

Even today, it's just so emotional, you know? Because I don't know where they went, you know? It's like having this girl and mom taking a boy who was six, seven years old and this little girl. They're traveling God knows where by foot. No home, no nothing behind them, you know, and 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, 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 the 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. It was one of these things that is really, it just stays with you. And it stays with you.

And I like to look back to it as much as it hurts me. it just 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 to be better and i want to be like him so i think having this in my subconscious you know all these experiences in the past and never forgetting about that keeps me grounded.

It keeps me aware that everything I say is heard in these places that really need your advice, that need your help, that need your light. So it's all about sharing that light and sharing that love. Yeah. Wow, man. What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned from war, from that whole experience personally? go through because you never know. You never know what one person goes through. You just always be kind because there is something that we call God, universe, angels. There is this higher force

above and here on 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 even think about tennis? You had this dream of being number one at four, five, six. And then during the wartime, 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 during the war? Yeah, I was, as I told you, you know, I've... That was your time with no school. Exactly, no school. I mean, I enjoyed school. I think it, you know, I've... 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 of weeks, we were like, okay, let's just survive, you know, and let's just figure things out. We don't know what's going to happen. And then after the second week, we were like, okay, this is going to happen.

God knows how long it's going to go for. So might as well continue living our so to say normal everyday lives whatever that whatever that 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 too you know it's 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 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. Like pull each other 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 we try to turn it into fun.

Yeah. You know, as much as we could. During bombings. Exactly. Exactly. 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. It was probably the uh was the first tv show i had like i was guest in one of these uh kids uh shows and on a national tv 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 is the bridge between goals and accomplishments, right? So

whatever in life you envision to do, you got to be disciplined, you know, disciplined spiritually, disciplined in sports and whatever, in your family, in your relationships. So very early, I think, and my parents and my tennis mother, Jana Nagentjic, 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, it was, 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 me to travel to United States, for example, for the first time in my life. And during those 90s, I mean, and because of embargo and all the things, the criminal rate raised. So there was a lot of kidnapping and different stuff. And 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 a difference. You need to stay in line and God knows if you're going to have a bread in a week time. 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 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. I managed to kind of in tennis and Andre Agassi is my coach now. I'm proud to have him in my team. He always says, you know, in tennis, you work from top backwards from basically setting up a goal and then you you work your way back and it's just 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, 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, can beat them i can be the best yeah i had plenty of doubts and plenty of doubtful moments i've probably the 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 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. 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. And then all of a sudden I had this period of two and a half, three years where I didn't win a slam. Really? I was managing to be three, four in the world, but 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 seven eight years old my dream and life goal was always to be number one and win Wimbledon that's it and I need to achieve that no matter what yeah but then I reached the 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 quarter finals against a guy called Jürgen Meltzer he was top 10 of 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 cried and I like, I don't know if this is worth it. I don't know if I should keep going. And, and my father was like, tough enough, tough enough, you know, no, no, no, no, you know, like, but it wasn't, 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 Vida and my, one of my best

friends in life and my former physiotherapist, Miljan. 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, okay, breathe and let's calm down. Let's look back. You know, and they were really, really wise for telling me, let's go look back 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 yeah what you want to do passion

for you know but do you really like holding reckoning and then 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 public court, I still like playing for the sake of playing. 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 tournament was Wimbledon, probably played semifinals. And then after that i won davis cup with with my country with my guys end of that 2010 that was one of the highlights of my career and then after that i i went into having 43 matches win in a row and i had that streak i became number one how long is that for i was it's like almost six months six months you didn't lose one match.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You lost a set, but not a match, right? Not a game. Yeah. Holy cow. It was McEnroe and myself. We hold the record for longest streak of history. You tied him?

Okay, so this is... If you go online... So, wait, wait. So, if you go online, you'll 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 fourth. But okay, John. Okay, John, you have it. You have it, John. Okay, you have it. So it's John. That's kind of feel amazing.

You were just in the zone. It was unbelievable. And it just gave me wings. I mean, I felt all of a sudden that I started to play and play freely. Between winning the first slam and that moment, it was three years. And I felt like I was playing for the wrong reasons. I was playing because I wanted to achieve. I wanted to do 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 felt 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 feel like that. I usually leave this to other people. And 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. The starting point.

Things that I have done, I've done 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 other families, with other 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 philanthropically 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 were 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 and vice versa 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, 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 a woman goes through, especially women that have 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 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 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 would probably say live freely, breathe deeply, and love fully. Simple. It really comes to that. It comes to

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 yeah 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 receive help? You got to 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 got to do this. You got to pay this. You got to do that. You got to follow this, you got to take that. 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. 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're 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 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 I need to, I need to, 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 were 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 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're 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 mindset, 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, I'll come to Belgrade and we'll bring the crew. Official invitation right here. I appreciate it, yes. So next time, we'll have to have Novak 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, you're a champion, brother. Thank you, Luis. Appreciate you, man.

Thank you. Appreciate you. There you have it, my friends. Such a powerful interview. I was blown away. I did not want this to end. I'm going to beg Novak to come back on at some point when he has time and he's back in L.A. But man, if you felt like this was powerful and inspiring to you, as it was for me,

then take a screenshot of this right now on your phone. Share it out with your friends everywhere. Tell them to listen to this. Send them the direct link, which is lewishouse.com slash 565. Or just send them the link over on iTunes or Spotify. You can listen to it anywhere podcasts are. We're over on Spotify as well. So wherever you feel like your friends will listen to it,

share this out so they can hear it. I am so inspired by, again, not only the results that Novak has created in his professional career and his personal life, but the way he shows up to serve humanity, to lift others up, to bring the world together. That's what this is all about. He is the ultimate man of service because he's serving his own dreams and then helping the world as well. So make sure to share this out, support him, support his cause, support his foundation as well. We'll have that linked up on the show notes. Again, lewishouse.com slash 565. Big thank you to

his wife who introduced us and made that possible. Appreciate you very much for making that happen. And again, I'm just so excited for the journey ahead for Novak. So make sure to check it out and share this with your friends. Again, if you enjoyed this one, please share it out. As Joseph Campbell said, we cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. Just as Novak does, he lives in joy, even though he's been through so much in his past I hope you guys live in joy today

even if you feel like you've been suffering or going through some struggle you have the opportunity to shift your mindset and live in joy right now I love you and you know what time it is it's time to go out there and do something great Great.