The School of Greatness - Novak Djokovic on Manifesting Success & Winning Olympic Gold

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Have you saved your seats at Summit of Greatness 2024 yet?! Get them before they sell out at lewishowes.com/ticketsIn today's episode, we're diving into the powerful journey of Novak Djokovic, who recently clinched Olympic gold in Paris, solidifying his status as one of the greatest athletes of all time. Join us as we explore how Novak has harnessed the power of manifestation to achieve unprecedented success on and off the tennis court. From overcoming a challenging childhood in war-torn Serbia to mastering the mental game that has propelled him to the top, Novak shares his insights on visualizing and realizing your dreams. Whether you're chasing gold or simply striving for personal growth, Novak's story is a testament to the power of belief and perseverance. Let's dive in and get inspired!In this episode you will learnHow Novak Djokovic uses visualization and manifestation techniques to achieve success, including his recent Olympic gold medal win.The impact of Novak's upbringing in war-torn Serbia on his resilience and outlook on life.The significance of love and presence in Novak's approach to life and tennis.Strategies Novak employs to stay grounded and maintain focus amidst his many achievements.The importance of finding joy and passion in the journey, rather than just focusing on the destination.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1650For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod

Novak Djokovic just won the gold medal here in Paris and it's incredible to see what he is able to do at his age with all the years of his career after just having knee surgery a couple of months ago, losing, getting runner up at Wimbledon, then coming back and winning Olympic gold here in Paris. He is an incredible leader, he is one of the top athletes in the world. And it's amazing to see how his mindset continues to allow him to manifest and achieve success at the highest level. And this is something he's been trying to accomplish for many years. He's never won a gold medal. And he's tried many times and he finally accomplished this. In this interview,

we talk about his mindset, how he thinks about manifesting the future, how he lives in the moment as well while dreaming about the future. This is going to be a powerful episode that you're going to watch and you're going to hear a four minute clip that I did behind the scenes talking with Novak after one of his games five years ago, talking about how he thinks and prepares, how he overcomes challenging moments when he's behind. And it's amazing to see how his mind thinks in the game. He talks about these breathing strategies and techniques. So pay attention during this entire interview.

Make sure to share with your friends. And I can't wait for you to enjoy this entire episode with the one and only Novak Djokovic. Hey, everyone. you to enjoy this entire episode with the one and only Novak Djokovic. Hey everyone, this is Lewis Howes and I am so excited to invite you to the Summit of Greatness 2024 happening at the iconic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. This is more than just an event. It's a powerful experience designed to ignite your passion, boost your growth, and connect you with a community of other inspiring achievers. Join us Friday, September 13th, and Saturday, September 14th for two days packed with inspiration and transformation

from some of the most incredible speakers on the planet. Don't miss out on this chance to elevate your life, unlock your potential, and be part of something truly special. Make sure to get your tickets right now and step into greatness with us at the Summit of Greatness 2024. Head over to lewishouse.com slash tickets and get your tickets today and I will see you there. 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 the way you will. 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 of 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, OK, 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 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 of all, it's yourself, of course, but then 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. I was telling you the other day at lunch, but she'll probably not agree with that.

She's like, yeah, but you had a girlfriend three and a half months before me okay yes i had but 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, so, but 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, yes, started when I was four years old.

And, you know, 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 uh before that we do we did have monica selish 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 with you know 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 Ivaništjević 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, I mean, they're 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 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 kopanonic 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 became only 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 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 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 the workers make the court and return. 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, I found out it's tennis. I just became aware that I'm alive, four years old. I mean, I was that young. And I was like, okay, dad, I would like to see what's going on here and maybe eventually get a record. 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. I joined right away the first camp that I saw. It 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 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 a mature and, and, 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 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. At five years old? 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 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 she they should support me bear in mind that those

were 90s and we had two wars and we all this bunch of different difficulties there were adversities in life that we were facing which was making it as difficult as much difficult for for my parents to support me and to become a tennis player and to pursue my dream and it was as we as we talked about it five minutes ago i 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, 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 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 father was a professional skier, my aunt, my uncle, they were all competitors and they're 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. So skiing was, and still is today, a 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. 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 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. Yeah, 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, 1992. And that one was the lesser of the two wars, is that right? It was still bombs everywhere 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 the whole Yugoslavia. There 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 in these areas of Bosnia and Croatia felt it. Yeah, gotcha. The second war was the one you felt the most, right? Yes. And you were around 12? I was 12. 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 us 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. We get to do that and that.

We don't get to sit for 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 canceled. Canceled, everything, you know, it's 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, 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, you know, 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 so uh did you see bombs dropping every oh yeah every day yeah yeah i didn't i did 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 shifted in 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 2-3 a.m 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'll spend two weeks mostly nights in those in those underground

shelters and i remember i think one of the first nights i and and you see it's it's you know it's obviously middle of the night it's you know pitch darkness and and and all of a sudden you see these flashes of light everywhere no you know explosions and you you you feel that the ground trembling and it was devastating experience and then i remember us running it was it was one 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 I they didn't hear me because of the noise so it was distance and I was frightened I'm gonna be left alone so as I was running I I trembled I you know on the 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 species flu and this dropped something there and which was very close it was the military hospital i was telling you about yeah 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 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 ten years actually because after the first war to the second war the whole country was we had embargo so there was no import

lack of gas for cars there was you know bread and milk you had lines of people you know 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 in Serbia

more resilient you know and just more just tougher you know for whatever challenges that we face in life or 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 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, any change for you? It isn't, 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 me, my family, my brothers, everyone is good. He's 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 and then one day i hope you'll come to belgrade uh and and you still see that 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 you cannot forget about that 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 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 it's almost you know not even you know 20 years ago so it's still relatively fresh it was in your 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. 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, 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 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 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, they lost their lives, they lost their close ones. What are they 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 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 to, there's a camera, I think it was CNN and a couple other cameras. And, and they, 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 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? 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, 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 it was a couple of children around me and we start 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 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 past just allowed me to be more warmhearted towards people. And I feel that, 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's just stays with you and 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 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, 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?

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 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 know, you had this dream of being number one at four or five, six six 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 you know were you able to practice were you just not sure were you just trying to you know oh i was practicing big time i was yeah i was as i 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'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 started to win some local tournaments. I was 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. 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 we might as well continue living our,

so to say, normal everyday lives, 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 wow this is us we are here so thankfully nothing 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 and 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. Like pulling 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 bombing. 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 I was probably the first TV show I had. I was guest in one of these kids shows on national TV or something like that. And I said that tennis's commitment is my obligation. It's 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 this one is discipline is is the bridge between 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 in whatever in your family in your relationships so very early I, 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 then it just, it was, uh, my father had to, he went through so much. I'm internally 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. see. He's 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 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 already. I was making like out of plastic or like a little paper materials. I was making the Wimbledon trophies, 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, I can beat them. I can be the best. Yeah, I had plenty of doubts and plenty of doubtful moments. I've 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 I was already a Grand Slam winner. I was an 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 Slams in Australia and 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 just, I struggled a lot. And for me, being number three of the world wasn't enough. I just, I was not to be three, four 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 was just, I always go back and 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. 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 quarterfinals 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 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 Vajda and my one of my best friends in life in my form of 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 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 it you know but do you really like

holding a 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 normallam, 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 let'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 my country, with my guys, end of that 2010.

That was one of the highlights of my career. And then after that, I went into having 43 matches, win in a row, and I had that streak. I became number one. How long is that for? It's like almost six months six months

you didn't lose one match yeah yeah you lost a set but not a match not a game yeah holy cow

it was McEnroe and myself we hold the record for longest streak you tied him? I ok so this is if you go if you go

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 40. But 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 just, 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 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 anytime 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

woman goes through, especially women that have experience of becoming a mother and all of that and been 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 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 okay 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 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, 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.

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 answer 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're 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. Yeah. 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, thank you. You're a champion, brother. Thank you, Luis, for having me. Thank you. Appreciate you. I hope you enjoyed this first part of the interview with Novak. And 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 I think being clear with all these things, and, you know, 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 and to not see them five weeks and and so winning is not enough you know there has to be all these three things that I've that I've talked told you about is something that fuels me every single day and and it's all it's all a journey it's all a journey I tried I try to tell myself look you know it's about the journey it's not about destination yeah you know when you that's why you know I've also you know felt during 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. Pretty big. That 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 slams. And I was, you know, dominant number one and everything was great. But I just didn't feel, 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 to, it I got it okay you've done it and now what how do you feel and then 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 it there has to be something that fuels your life's purpose and it has to be the life purpose has to be altruistic it has to be, the life purpose has to be altruistic. It has to affect and concern others

as a positive effect, a 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. Yeah, right, it was like 50. But you just mentioned in 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 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 in 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.

Yeah. So it's, I think, a logical trajectory in life for a 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 from 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 to tennis and professional tennis and 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. My wife and I are 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. 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. It was over percent of children in serbia that did not attend any preschool uh programs and one 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 zero to seven so that's what it's super important to have your child exposed to as many creative and right things for his or her development. So we have over 20, I think 20, 22,000 children in the programs. Wow.

That's cool. And we are collaborating with the World Bank, with UNICEF, and with many different partners. And my wife 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 I'm very proud of all of them. They're doing tremendous work. And also, as part of the nonprofit,

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 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 their 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, you know, helping and being of service. You know, we're mostly focused on youth and children because they hold the keys of the future of this world in their hands. 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 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 loved you, and how much he appreciated 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 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 um um also a vision of life. If you see life through the lens of love, then life will be love for you. 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. 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, you know, we are able to share these beautiful moments and play sports and be friends

and talk about good things and hopefully inspire others. I think when you love intensely, 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 um is a concept is is uh, is something that is an inevitable force that penetrates every area of your life if you allow it. And I think if you focus on that, on that positivity or the abundance of the good feelings in your life, because love is also happiness, it's 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 as a as a positive consequence of all of that you are going to become less angry you know less negativity less doubt less less of those negative emotions that 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 that every illness, you know starts with the some emotion that is deeply suppressed or in 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 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 the tennis court, with your family with friends absolutely

because when you're present you you just uh you talk to tell this about the the plane and when you were you know trying to force some creative thoughts some ideas to come to you when you're thinking about something that wasn't coming and then you 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 uh tense and when they're when they're in fear, it's hard. It lowers their 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're present because then you can actually feel what is happening inside. You can hear yourself because, you know I believe that's the inner voice the intuition the the voice of God whatever you want to call it is constantly talking to you because we've I believe in the presence of God and universe and I believe in angels that that that talk to us the whisper and and

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. That's how it is.

And it's that powerful because in the end of the day, I was reading this book about the NLP right now, and it talks about the the the relationship between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind and the unconscious mind is like is like 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 am 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 the people treat their cancer illnesses and God knows what with just with thinking, with emotions and God knows what,

just with thinking, with emotions, with placebo effect. 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 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 throughout my career I've been fortunate to play so many matches and so many years on the on the 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 and and but the more you focus 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 champion's mindset in their business and in their life. Send them lewishouse.com slash 1137, or just copy and paste this link wherever you're listening to this podcast. 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.