For the past two years, Novak Djokovic has been almost untouchable on the ATP World Tour, the signs of Djokovic’s impending domination came in 2011. And today he is generally considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. This Serbian beast has won 12 grand slams, he broke so many records, including the one Roy Emerson had.
Novak is known for his gluten-free diet and as a guy that is extremely flexible. He is literally skiing on grass or any other surface. His style is very aggressive.
When he was on top, people started to ask how can he have such a strength to win every grand slam? Where does that strength come from? We will reveal some of it today in this article.
He is also known for questioning equal pay for men and women in tennis.
In his interview, he speaks a lot about being present, staying out of his head, self-improvement, entering the zone and affirmations. I will quote some of his most interesting statements:
Journalist: “When I am acting the play, I try not to think what will happen after that and am I going to act my character good. I am concentrating on every next moment. If you are to play the final match against Andy Murray, are you going to choose the same technique for you to stay focused on every next moment in the match before you think about the result?
Novak: “I hope that I will play in finals and that you will enjoy with me in my match against Andy. It’s very important to be in the present moment because that’s the only thing you can affect. What could happen is not in your hands, and thinking about that can only distract your attention, and then concentration is going down.”
“In present moment you can fully dedicate to every move, and to stay in the zone as much as you want. I hope I will sometimes exchange few shots with you. See you soon.”
From another interview:
“I believe in the power of the mind, very much so, if we all trained our minds as much as we are training our muscles and physical body, I think we would achieve and maximize our potential. We don’t know how much we can really achieve until we have this kind of mindset of wanting always to evolve and improve.”
“I believe in the power of the mind and visualization, which is a big part of my everyday life. I know I cannot influence physically the next day or what’s going to happen in the next weeks or months. But I can send good vibes to the future and then do everything in my power to get myself prepared. Then, when the time comes, I’ll try to seize the opportunity.”
“It’s mindfulness, this kind of holistic approach in life that allows me to maximize my potential as a human being, from every aspect of my being, not just physical, but mental, emotional, spiritual,” continued Djokovic. “I try to be disciplined with all these different kind of exercises that I execute on a daily basis that makes me feel good and present and calm and happy. At the end of the day, that’s the purpose of life, to have inner calmness and be happy and do what you love to do and enjoy every moment of this life.”
“I don’t like the word obsession because it doesn’t come from the right emotion. Roland Garros is a wish and it is a goal. Honestly, I haven’t had any difficulty in my thinking in order to really tell myself that. I feel like in the past couple of years I managed to train my mind to stay as much as possible in the present moment and focus on what’s coming up next. Of course, like all players, I do think in advance and try to plan in advance. But when you need to operate as a human machine, you need to do that only in the present moment and in the present time. When that time comes for me, I will start thinking about it more than I do now.”
There is not much to be added. Stay present when doing something you want to succeed in.