Novak Djokovic: The Serbian Tennis Super Star
Summary
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player ranked No. 3 at the end of 2009 … Born May 22, 1987 … Won one Grand Slam at the 2008 Australia Open (d. Federer in SF, Tsonga in F) … First player from Serbia to win a Grand Slam title … Youngest player in the open era to reach semi-finals of all four Grand Slam events … Runner-up at 2007 US Open (l. Federer) … Won the bronze medal in singles representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games … Won the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in 2008.
Personal Life
Novak Djokovic started to play at age four and made his pro debut at 16 … Nicknamed Nole … Father, Srdjan and mother, Dijana own a pizzeria and pancake restaurant in Serbia … Credits his family as inspiration for giving him so much support and says he wouldn’t be able to be where he is without their help … Younger brothers Marko (born Aug. 20, 1991) and Djordje (born July 17, 1995) are both in school and play tennis … Idol growing up was Pete Sampras … Speaks Serbian, Italian, German and English … Known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players.
Favorite surface is hard courts but considers himself an all court player…Best shot is backhand down the line… …Coached by former ATP pro and Slovak Republic native Marian Vajda (since June 2006).
Djokovic And His Family Celebrate His Australian Open victory
Career Highlights
2005 The No. 1 player from Serbia finished as youngest player in Top 100 at 18 years, 5 months … Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the Australian Open (l. to Safin)… Qualified into Roland Garros and won first career Grand Slam match to reach 2nd RD … Made ATP Masters Series debut as qualifier in Cincinnati (l. to Gonzalez).
2006 Captured two ATP titles in three finals and finished as youngest player in year-end Top 20… Reached first career Grand Slam QF (ret. vs. Nadal) at Roland Garros.
2007 Finished as youngest player in Top 10 (No. 3) and completed his best season by capturing a personal-high five ATP titles while reaching his first Grand Slam final at the US Open (l. Federer)… …In August, collected his second ATP Masters Series shield in Montreal where he posted wins over No. 3 Roddick (QF), No. 2 Nadal (SF) and No. 1 Federer (F) to become first player to defeat World’s Top 3 since Boris Becker in October 1994 in Stockholm…He also became first player to beat Federer and Nadal in the same tournament while they were ranked No. 1 and 2… Qualified for his first Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.
2008 Finished No. 3 for a second straight season … Captured four titles in six finals, winning Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai as well as his first Grand Slam crown at Australian Open (d. Federer in SF, Tsonga in F)… Won bronze medal at Beijing Olympics (d. Blake) …Earned a career-high $5.6 million.
2009 The Serb finished No. 3 for a third straight year highlighted by five ATP World Tour titles in a career-high 10 finals… Led ATP World Tour in matches played (97), matches won (78) and hard court matches won (53), all personal bests for Novak Djokovic.