Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (Serbian Cyrillic: Новак Ђоковић, romanized: Novak Đoković (born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. Djokovic has been No. 1 for a record total of 329 weeks, and has finished as year-end No. 1 on an Open Era joint record six occasions (shared with Pete Sampras). Djokovic has won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles (tied for the most all time with Rafael Nadal) and 85 ATP singles titles overall, including a record nine Australian Open titles and a joint record 36 Masters events (shared with Rafael Nadal). He is the only player to win all of the "Big Titles" on the modern ATP Tour – that is, all four Grand Slam tournaments, all nine ATP Masters events, and the ATP Finals.
Djokovic began his professional career in 2003. At age 20, he interrupted Roger Federer's and Rafael Nadal's streak of 11 consecutive majors to win his first Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australian Open. By 2010, Djokovic also separated himself from the rest of men's tennis to join Federer and Nadal in the Big Three, the group of three players who have dominated men's tennis for more than a decade. In 2011, Djokovic was ranked No. 1 for the first time, winning three out of four majors and a then-season record of five Masters events. He remained the best player in men's tennis for the rest of the decade, leading the tour in major and Masters titles, and winning four out of his five titles at the ATP Finals consecutively from 2012 through 2015. After four consecutive year-end finishes at No. 3 through 2010, Djokovic finished No. 1 for six years and No. 2 for three years in the next decade.
Djokovic had another career year in 2015, reaching fifteen consecutive finals, including all four major finals and eight Masters finals, winning three majors and a season-record of six Masters events as well as the ATP Finals. The following year, he won the 2016 French Open to complete the career Grand Slam and the non-calendar year Grand Slam. He also became the first male player since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once and the only one in history to do so on three different surfaces. By winning the 2021 French Open, he became the first player in the Open Era to achieve the career Grand Slam twice. Representing Serbia, Djokovic has led the Serbian team to their first Davis Cup title in 2010 and to the inaugural ATP Cup title in 2020. He won the bronze medal for Serbia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Djokovic has won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award four times. He is also a recipient of the Order of St. Sava, the Order of Karađorđe's Star, and the Order of the Republika Srpska. Outside of competing, Djokovic was the former ATP player council president and is also an active philanthropist.
Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking Serbian, English, French, German, and Italian.
He met his future wife, Jelena Ristić, in high school, and began dating her in 2005. 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 (Serbian Cyrillic: Црква Светог Архиђакона Стефана) which belongs to Praskvica Monastery. On 24 April 2014, Djokovic announced that he and Ristić were expecting their first child. Their son, Stefan, was born on 21 October 2014 in Nice, France. Their daughter, Tara, was born on 2 September 2017.
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. He has said that he admired and held in high regard Bishop Amfilohije, who played a key part in helping him through a tough time during the Yugoslav Wars.
Djokovic has been reported to meditate for up to an hour a day at the Buddhist Buddhapadipa Temple in Wimbledon as he appreciates the natural setting and serenity, and is close to monks in the complex. He has spoken of the positive power of meditation. An Orthodox Christian, but also attends Buddhist temples for the meditation sessions and practices Buddhist meditation.
Since 2010, he has been connected with the nutritionist Igor Četojević who additionally focuses on Chinese medicine and does acupuncture. He discovered that Djokovic suffers from gluten intolerance, using applied kinesiology, and that he cannot eat gluten, purging it from his diet. He eventually settled on a vegan diet, while later sometimes eating fish.