Novak Djokovic: From a champion in the making to a true champion now

Recently in an interview to CNN, when questioned about his current form, Novak Djokovic recalled a quote as an answer to that question. And the quote was – “Limitations exist only in our minds and if you start using Imaginations, then your possibilities become limitless.”

This elucidates what’s in store for the tennis fraternity and tennis fans in general; what we can expect from him in the near future. The Serb recently celebrated his 700th win against Jaziri in Dubai Duty-Free Championships. He is the 12th player to achieve this feat and one of only three active players to cross the 700 mark.

At the age of 28 years, 9 months, 2 days, Djokovic has achieved this feat 18 days before Roger Federer who crossed the 700 mark at the 2010 Roland Garros tournament. That is simply fantastic news for his fans.

Now that he has been nominated for the 2016 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award which he earlier won twice in 2012 and 2015, I want to write a little about the history of this man.

Never is the road for a champion laid plain and smooth with easy turns. Novak showed the world what it takes to be a champion that too in an era of tennis greats like Roger and Rafa ruling the sport.

No looking back since 2008

Fighting all the odds against him that he faced in his childhood in Serbia, Novak first tasted the success of winning a Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open. But he had to wait for nearly three long years to show the world his true potential.

The tremendous success Novak had in 2011 can be attributed to his outstanding ability in converting his main weakness into one of his biggest strengths. After some frequent on-court meltdowns, Novak moved to a gluten free diet and since then there has been no looking back for him in terms of fitness.

His flexibility and ability to convert a defensive shot to an offensive one and make the opponent play a few extra shots marks his new style of winning tough rallies. Djokovic’s arsenal though includes multiple weapons, his powerful and precise two handed back hand added with his return of serve does the maximum damage to his opponents’ game.

But is that all it takes Novak to score victories consistently against players like even Roger, Rafa and Murray in the biggest events of the sport like Grand Slams too?

Before answering this question let us pause for a moment and take a quick look at this fact. From Jan 2015 to Australian open 2016, Djokovic won a commanding 38 percent of his return games immediately after getting broken, which is the best figure among all his peers.

This leads us to understand the most important secret behind his dream run in 2015 after winning just one Grand slam though ending the year as number one in rankings in 2014.

So now I guess it’s clear. The answer is not just any technical aspect of his game rather is his display of mental strength and fortitude.

Boris and Djoker

Djokovic with Boris Becker during Australian Open 2016

Boris Becker when questioned about Novak’s winning streak in an interview recently said that Novak Djokovic is a street fighter who gets better when going gets tough. This is absolutely true.

And this may be one of the prime reasons why things are going really well between Boris and Novak since 2015. Boris understands not just Novak’s game but also his attitude and desire to win more and more to create history in this sport.

Now today with Boris in his coaching box as a head coach, Djokovic is truly pushing his limits in all aspects of the game and is defining the way in which he is dominating men’s tennis today.

As I roll back over the past and start to think about this man, I always feel a sense of inspiration by the way he rose up to the top and living up to the status of a true champ. Let alone one decide whether he reaches Roger’s seventeen Grand slams mark or not but it’s true that we will surely see much more of him in near future and maybe even Roland Garros if things go well for Novak in 2016 itself.

Finally, maybe this quote from Novak which he said in an interview after winning Australian open in 2008 sums it up all – “It’s a question of who believes and who wants it more. Which player is going to fight the hardest in the big points? These are the things that determine who is the champion.”