Novak Djokovic
- Category : Tennis Player
- Type : MGP
- Profile : 2/4 - Hermit / Opportunist
- Definition : Single
- Incarnation Cross : RAX The Sleeping Phoenix 2
Biography
Novak Djokovic (born May 22, 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. His major achievements —so far— have come in 2007, when he was the runner-up at the US Open and reached three Masters Series finals, winning in Miami and Montréal. Also, he reached the semifinals at French Open and Wimbledon. His highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour is number three, which he reached on July 9, 2007. In January 2008, he defeated number one and defending champion Roger Federer at the 2008 Australian Open, and will move on to face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final on January 27. The source for his birth time is his birth certificate.
Personal
Novak Djokovic was born May 22, 1987 in Belgrade, then-Yugoslavia. He is the oldest child of father Srjan and mother Dijana. In addition to Novak, there are two younger sons, ?or?e and Marko, who are both talented tennis players as well. Djokovic started playing tennis at age 4, and at 12 he attended the Nikola Pili? Academy (for tennis) in Munich, there his talent was discovered by experienced scout Mirko Graovac who gave way to his most illustrious career. ?okovi? speaks Serbian, German and English. Novak's parents own a restaurant in Serbia which he claims specializes in pizza and pancakes. He resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco and is coached by a former Slovak tennis player, Marián Vajda.
He often does humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom he is friends with. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyà, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.
Tennis career
2003-2005
In the beginning of his professional career, Ðokovi? mainly played in Futures and Challenger tournaments, winning three of each type.
2006
He participated in the 2006 Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian player Ana Ivanovi?, with the pairing narrowly missing the final.
He continued his great run in 2006 by shooting up the rankings. In May 2006, various reports appeared in the British media about Novak's mother Dijana reportedly approaching Britain's Lawn Tennis Association about her son joining British tennis ranks and the possibility of their entire 5-person family moving from Serbia to live in Britain. All the rumours didn't affect ?okovi?'s play, however. He started 2006 ranked 78th, but with an excellent run to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon, he found himself in the top 40. Just three weeks after Wimbledon, he won his maiden title in Amersfoort without losing a set, defeating Nicolás Massú in the final. ?okovi? won his second career title in Metz, and with this victory moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.
2007
Djokovic began a successful year by winning in Adelaide, defeating Australian Chris Guccione in the final. At the 2007 Australian Open, he reached the fourth round, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets.
In 2007, his performances in the Masters Series events at Indian Wells and Miami, where he was runner-up and champion respectively, pushed him well into the world's top ten. In those tournaments, which were his first and second Masters finals, he defeated fellow rising star Andy Murray in the semifinals without dropping a set in either match. He lost the Indian Wells final to Rafael Nadal, but avenged this defeat by beating Nadal in the Miami event, before defeating the resurgent Guillermo Cañas in the final (6-3, 6-2, 6-4). He later played in the prestigious Monte Carlo Open, only to be defeated by David Ferrer in his third-round match in straight sets. He reached the quarterfinals of both Rome and Hamburg Masters, but lost to Carlos Moyà and Nadal, respectively. At the tournament in Estoril, ?okovi? defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6, 0-6, 6-1 in the final.
At the French Open he reached his first Grand Slam semifinal ever, where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
During the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, he won an epic match against Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals. The match ended 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9), 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5 and lasted 5 hours, just 5 minutes shy of the longest singles match in a single day in Wimbledon history. In his semifinal match, he was forced to retire against Rafael Nadal due to a back injury and foot problem.
He garnered further success in the Masters Series, winning the 2007 Canada Masters in Montréal. In the final he defeated top-seeded Roger Federer 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (2). In reaching the championship, he achieved the remarkable feat of defeating the World Nos. 1, 2 and 3 (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick, respectively) on three consecutive days. This is the first time a player has accomplished this since Boris Becker in 1994. Moreover, ?okovi? became only the 2nd person, after Tomáš Berdych, to have defeated both Federer and Nadal since they became the dominant #1 and #2 players in the world. His successful performance made Björn Borg state that ?okovi? "is definitely a contender to win a Grand Slam." However, ?okovi?'s appearance the following week at the Cincinnati Masters resulted disappointingly with a straight-set loss to Carlos Moyà in the 2nd round.
He nevertheless came to the 2007 U.S. Open with a lot of confidence and expectation, and reached the final where he lost to top-seeded Federer 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4. On his way to the final, ?okovi? won an epic 5-set 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (2) second-round match against Radek Št?pánek after nearly 5 hours of play.
Djokovic returned after a minor injury to Vienna, to beat Stanislas Wawrinka in the final 6-4, 6-0 and take his 5th title of the year. The win enables ?okovi? to gain closer on Rafael Nadal in the ATP Tour Rankings. ?okovi?'s next tournament was the prestigous Madrid Masters, where he lost to David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the semifinals, an improvement on the previous year's finish. At the 2007 Paris Masters, he was upset by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
?okovi?, then assured of finishing third, went to Shanghai for the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup, being the first player to arrive. ?okovi? was also the first player to exit the tournament, losing his first two matches of the round-robin format to David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4, Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-2. In his last match he lost to Nadal 6-4, 6-4.
2008
Djokovic started off the year by playing the Hopman Cup along with fellow Serbian World Number 3 Jelena Jankovi?. He won all of his round-robin matches and eventually the team, seeded number one, reached the final. They lost 2-1 against the American team consisting of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish seeded number two.
At the 2008 Australian Open, he reached the final with a straight sets win over top seed and defending champion Roger Federer in the semis, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(5). He ended Federer's reign of 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals reached. He will face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final on January 27. Indeed will be an exciting match because the third seed has yet again beat the reigning champion of the Austrailian Open and now he must face the man who defeated the second seed of Tennis Rankings,Rafa Nadal
Davis Cup
He is good friends with fellow junior graduate (and sometimes doubles partner) Andy Murray, who was part of the Great Britain team that Serbia and Montenegro defeated in the Davis Cup in Glasgow in April 2006. ?okovi? got the decisive win on April 9 by defeating Greg Rusedski in four sets in the fourth match, giving his team a 3-1 lead in their best of 5 series. He now represents Serbia, as the country gained independence in June 2006. By winning all of his three matches, ?okovi? played a key role in the 2007 play-off win over Australia, promoting Serbia to World Group in 2008.
Playing style
Djokovic is an all-court player. He has great groundstrokes, especially the forehand, which is powerful, deep, well-angled, and hit with strong topspin. With excellent speed, his serve is one of his major weapons. However, this has in recent times come to some criticism as ?okovi? chooses to bounce the ball more times than some feel is necessary before serving. On the other hand, some feel this is a tactic that has worked well for ?okovi? and his playing style as it surprises some players when he serves suddenly. Another noted part of his serve is his 2nd serve, which both commentators and his coach have stated to throw him off-rhythm. ?okovi?, while very sound and powerful from the baseline, often finishes points by coming to the net similar to Roger Federer. He also includes a dropshot/slice backhand in his shot repertoire, which is less stressful to the body than heavy, penetrating topspin shots from the baseline.
Equipment
Djokovic is sponsored by Wilson and Adidas. He is currently using the superior K-Blade racket. ?okovi? also wears the Adidas Barricade V shoe and the adidas YOC Group for clothing. His vibration dampener is a yellow smiley face, which reflects his exubrant personality.
