Novak Djokovic on changing Nationality in his early days


Novak Djokovic on changing Nationality in his early days

Novak Djokovic, non arguably the most successful player in the last decade. Currently he stands third in most grand slam titles tally with 17 Grand Slam titles. Roger Federer leading with 20, followed by Rafael Nadal’s 19. He created an absolute record by winning eight Australian Open, also won five Wimbledon, three US Open, and a Roland Garros titles.

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But all this success didn’t come easily, had to work hard to get sponsors. If any player (especially in junior years) is struggling and asked to change nationality to British, it’s a lucrative offer and solution for all problems. The last month, in an interview with Graham Bensinger, Djokovic was asked how much consideration he gave to changing nationalities.

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“During my junior days, I was doing really well in the junior international tournaments, tennis agents spotted me. And we got an offer to change our nationality to British nationality. It was a very tempting offer as it would have solved all of our problems but we didn’t go for it” he said.

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He also talked about how he got into tennis and how his family background in sports is a big factor. “I fell in love with tennis when I was 4. My dad bought me a tennis racquet and there were 3 courts in front of my parents’ restaurant. The athletic gene runs in my family so it was no surprise I started playing a sport. But it was odd that I played tennis as my dad, my uncle, and my aunt were competitive skiers. My parents hid the sacrifices they made pretty well but there were times they could not.”

“I remember one time my dad pulled out a 10 Deutsche Mark bill and said that is all they got. But somehow, my parents found a way to cause they were a great team” he said.

Also Read: “Training Without Goals Is Boring, One Has To Look For Motivations”

In addition to Grand Slam, Djokovic also won 34 Masters 1000 tournaments, bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a Davis Cup, and an ATP Cup with the Serbian national team.

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