NEW DELHI: World No.1 Novak Djokovic, who recently won his ninth Australian Open and 18th Grand Slam title, said that his tennis journey had not been easy but the hardships he faced only made him stronger.
“I think we all go through different hardships in our lives. My journey was not easy, but it made me stronger. We had two different wars in 1990s. Growing up in a war-torn country was a challenge. It definitely made me more hungry to represent my country – to send a message of peace and love and passion and joy,” Djokovic said with an interview with NDTV.
Djokovic recently surpassed Roger Federer for the most weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He is in his 311th week in the top spot, one more than Federer has spent there.
“This achievement (to stand by tennis greats) is something that I dreamt of when I was a kid starting to play tennis. It’s a tribute to the love and commitment to the sport. They have such different tennis styles and how they behave on the court and off the court, and I have to adjust differently to the both of them,” he added.
“Those two guys (Federer and Nadal) are the ones who pushed me to be a better player,” he said. “Hard to pick one of them, because I have always had to compete against both of them as they were so dominant and consistent.”