Novak Djokovic Trivia: 34 facts you didn’t know about the famous tennis player!

Novak Djokovic, often referred to by the hypocorism Nole, is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 2 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Let’s see some interesting facts about him!

1. Novak Djokovic was born on 22 May 1987 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia.

2. His parents are Srđan and Dijana.

3. Novak’s father is Montenegrin in origin and his mother is Croatian by background, with Novak considering himself to be Serbian.

4. His two younger brothers, Marko and Djordje, are also tennis players with professional aspirations.

5. A resident in Monte Carlo, Djokovic was coached by former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda from 2006 until Boris Becker took over the role of head coach in December 2013.

6. Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking Serbian, English, French, German, and Italian.

7. He met his future wife, Jelena Ristić, in high school, and began dating her in 2005.

8. The two became engaged in September 2013, and on 10 July 2014 the couple got married on Sveti Stefan in Montenegro, while a church wedding was held in the same place, on 12 July 2014, in the Church of Saint Stephen which belongs to Praskvica Monastery.

9. On 24 April 2014, Djokovic announced that he and Ristić were expecting their first child. His son Stefan was born in October 2014.

10. Djokovic began playing tennis at the age of four.

11. In the summer of 1993, the six-year-old was spotted by Yugoslav tennis player Jelena Genčić at Mount Kopaonik, where Djokovic’s parents ran a fast-food parlour.

12. Upon seeing Djokovic play tennis, she stated: “This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles.”

13. Genčić worked with young Djokovic over the following six years before realizing that, due to his rapid development, going abroad in search of increased level of competition was the best option for his future.

14. To that end, she contacted Nikola Pilić and in September 1999 the 12-year-old moved to the Pilić tennis academy in Oberschleißheim, Germany, spending four years there.

15. At the age of 14, he began his international career, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.

16. Djokovic is known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends.

17. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyá, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.

18. His impersonations have also become popular on YouTube.

19. Djokovic did an impression of John McEnroe after his fourth round match victory at the 2009 US Open, before playing a brief game with McEnroe, much to the delight of the audience.

20. Djokovic is a member of the “Champions for Peace” club, a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

21. Djokovic is a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church. On 28 April 2011, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded Djokovic the Order of St. Sava I class, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church, for his contributions to monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija and charitable work in Serbia.

22. He is a keen fan of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade, Italian club A.C. Milan and Portuguese club S.L. Benfica.

23. He is good friends with fellow Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic, whom he has known since the two were children growing up in Serbia, through Djokovic’s uncle and Ivanovic’s father.

24. He is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

25. He is coached by former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda. Djokovic holds the best match winning rate (83.00%) in Open Era, as of August 2016.

26. Djokovic has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, the fourth most in history, and held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a total of 223 weeks.

27. In majors, Djokovic has won six Australian Open titles, three Wimbledon titles, two US Open titles and one French Open title.

28. In 2016, he became the eighth player in history to achieve the Career Grand Slam; by winning the 2016 French Open, Djokovic became the third man to hold all four major titles at once, the first since Rod Laver in 1969, and the first ever to do so on three different surfaces.

29. Djokovic stands alone with an all-time record of 30 Masters 1000 series titles. Djokovic’s records include breaking the single-season record with six masters titles in 2015, winning 31 consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series matches, playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (shared with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), and being the only player to win eight of the nine events (and at least twice).

30. Among other titles, he has won the ATP World Tour Finals five times and was on the Serbian team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the Bronze medal in men’s singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

31. Djokovic is the first Serbian player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP and the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. Djokovic has won numerous awards, including the 2012, 2015, and 2016 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year, 2011 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, five-time ITF World Champion, and four-time ATP year-end number 1. He is a recipient of the Order of St. Sava, the Order of Karađorđe’s Star and the Order of the Republika Srpska.

32. He is gluten intolerant.

33. He has appeared in a music video for the song- Hello by Martin Solveig.

34. Djokovic is a dog lover. He takes his pet, poodle Pierre, everywhere he goes.