Many people pay attention to tennis stars only when they achieve greatness. Not many take a moment to consider the huge sacrifices that they and their families had to endure in their road to stardom. Novak Djokovic is now a very wealthy guy thanks to his immense success on the tennis court. However, things were not so easy at the very beginning.
During an interesting interview view with Serbian outlet Kurir, Novak’s maternal grandfather Zdenko Žagar (82), revealed the huge sacrifices and risks that Novak’s father Srdjan had to face.
“I remember, we just got back from skiing, Diana calls me. ‘Dad, we borrowed money in your name,’ she told me. I ask her how she will return it. She replied not to worry. And one day I ask what happened to that debt, and they say that they returned everything fairly, both the principal and the interest, which were otherwise high.
And I lent them, of course, without interest and they would always return it to me. They were forced to borrow big money,” he revealed.
“I once asked Srdjan: ‘Man, what would you do if you couldn’t bring those people back?’ He looked at me and said: “I would unload the wagons at the station.” Imagine the risk, because one injury could have ruined everything,” Zdenko added.
Djokovic also impressed after revealing that back in the days when he was “only” a great prospect, but still struggling with money, he refused to become a UK citizen for the love of his country. Eventually, his faith was rewarded as Novak’s success was just about to happen.
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Novak Djokovic in 2020
Now ranked no.1, Novak played his last match on the 29th of February when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Dubai to win his 79th career title.
At the moment, this season the Serbian has a 18-0 win-loss record. Novak clinched 2 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open and in Dubai.
