Novak Djokovic on Perseverance, Resilience, and Maximizing Potential | 2024 Upfront Summit

0:00 so there are there are actually very few really very few uh goats uh in the world and today we get to hear from perhaps the goatest of them all noic has won I'm going to read these stats off because they're just mindblowing when you actually hear this 24 Grand Slam titles 40 and every one of these is a record

0:31 just so we a record 40 Masters title he has spent a record 409 weeks rated at number one his career win percentage win percentage is 83.7% uh he has won a record $176 million in prize money and today he's actually still going strong beating players that are nearly half his age and it's just a remarkable remarkable uh set

1:01 of achievements um uh and I think they're really interesting to me because the the roots of his tennis literally go back to uh his his childhood very very early in his childhood growing up in Serbia which was at the time a war zone and uh he practiced tennis in an empty s swimming pool and when he played on a court he

1:32 choosed an area that had just been bombed in the hope that they wouldn't come back and bomb the same place twice the next day talk about someone who has perseverance um from the earliest age in everything he does Novak is someone who goes to the greatest length and so again we welcome you here today excited to have you with us so thank you Novak thank you so much

2:02 so to let's start the first half of this we're going to talk about tennis career and then into some more entrepreneurial things that that you're doing you know all of us have uh in our lives we have professionally great highs and great lows and um and doing a little bit of research I know that probably and that's why I want to hear from you one of the sort of biggest moments for you crisis moments for you is when you were injured

2:30 and the question was what was going to happen tennis wise and maybe you could just share a little insight about when where and how of course um well good morning good afternoon to everyone it's pleasure to be here thank you for great introduction and opportunity to speak well um I think I can speak on behalf of all the athletes uh injury is the greatest enemy you know um obviously when an athlete is injured particularly in individual sport like tennis

3:00 there's no one to substitute you uh replace you so uh your career is pretty much on hold um and a lot of things that you've been building for so many years can uh can be at risk um so you know I I believe very strongly in prevention not only in sports but in anything really in life um so I've had only one major surgery which was the one that you're referring to I had a major injury of my

3:27 elbow wear and tear you know obviously over the years um a lot of um you know long matches long Seasons tennis for people that don't know is the has the longest season of all sports it starts in January ends in end of November so it's there's a lot of tournaments a lot of traveling so of course all of that has an effect on the on the body and of course psychology as well so what what year was this that was

3:55 201 um 17 really I started feeling it in 16 and now I've been kind of carrying this uh elbow injury and I was always really against the tablets and painkillers and I never really wanted to get into that but I had to there was no other way I started the season so um I'm sure that many athletes relate to this you know um you know when you people expect you to play they pay tickets maybe to watch you play one time and

4:21 then you're always thinking you know I want to perform I want to be out there I don't want to let people down let myself down my family so I've been carrying that injury for quite a long time it was getting worse and worse because I I I killed all my you know pain um sensors basically and then it got to a point where I was playing Wimbledon quarterfinals and uh I I could not serve I could not lift my arm and then I knew

4:46 it was it was it was over and it was a moment for me to really take some more radical action and um I was avoiding surgery at all costs and so when I stopped there Wimbledon is kind of mid-season July I took the rest of the season out and I did not want to play uh because I tried all the different methods of healing myself and my my injury and I started training for the next season and I felt the pain again

5:11 but I anyway went to play Australia and then I realized I have to take a surgery so I did that and um and six weeks later I was back uh was there a moment there where you thought maybe this is it I'm done well I I I I cried after surgery not not because I was in pain but because I felt like I let myself down because my philosophy is was always you know try to avoid surgery do everything

5:36 I can to prevent uh you know me going under the knife and um so I I felt like my mom was there and I told her mom I let myself down and she was trying to convince me that you know it's it's fine it's okay it's normal you know everyone goes through that so hopefully that stays the the the only surgery I ever had but that that was a major turning point for me at that point I was uh I

6:01 was already 30 years old and uh had really really old had for for for an athlete for an athlete yes for for professional tennis player it's it's already you're kind of entering the last phase of your career so I you know I had a fantastic career and then you know no one was really telling me maybe you should think of slowing down and just you know maybe playing another year or two um I did feel like I wanted to leave

6:28 tennis uh I must say that because uh particularly in the in the several months after the the surgery I dropped my for the first time in many years out of top 20 I played the worst tennis that I ever played uh I was losing to a guys that I you know never lost to and just I felt miserable on the court and uh and I felt okay maybe this is the moment you know and I had to alternate my my

6:53 service motion my biomechanics my technique my tactics everything was uh challenged so um so yeah I gathered my team and I I told him listen I I think you know I'm I'm starting to really distance myself from from uh professional tennis I I think it's maybe time for a next chapter and it was my wife and my agent my team uh tennis team and you know they told me to to rethink and take some time I was hot-headed I just came off from

7:23 the one of those you hotheaded I was yeah occasionally my my wife my wife will be testimon to that but uh anyway I was yeah I lost a tennis match in in Miami and I said you know you know I'm done and then they said you no know maybe think about it and I'm really grateful that that I had a great supporting them and that they had a great counsel because at that moment I really needed to calm myself and and

7:48 fast forward um the second part of 2018 I win two slams I win Wimbledon US Open and you know trajectory starts to get again this upward spiral and uh you know I arguably have the best period of of my career in the years to follow that's great fantastic um if you had to pick the the moment the Pinnacle what was the most rewarding for you personally one was the thing that just you went wow

8:19 this is more than I ever hoped or dreamed for uh if it's not related to tennis then becoming a father tennis sorry we're going to talk about the others my wife is here also getting married as well of course all right and and uh tennis wise it would be it would be the first Wimbledon Trophy and I've realized my two childhood dreams within two days I won

8:49 Wimbledon in 2011 um and I I the same day I became number one in the world for the first time I went back home I was greeted by you know many people on the streets uh in my hometown uh and and the square they organized the whole celebration party and and I had my whole family there so that was probably once in a lifetime experience I mean I was blessed really to win many more slams and and

9:16 Achieve greatest you know records in this sport but you know when you do something for the first time it's it's always highlight so I would probably point that one as as the best right so now that you're you know really really old um and you look for the next uh year or two or three and however many years that uh you get to what are the goals that you set for yourself today versus a decade ago how do you look at

9:48 the year how do you look at tournaments how do you how do you manage your resource right you can't you know probably don't want to play 30 tournaments a year well I have to to uh manage my schedule wiser and smarter than I have done in in my previous 20 years 20 plus years of professional career um I I have to obviously prioritize the biggest events which in our sport are Grand Slams you know the four majors we are in Olympic here so

10:17 Olympics representing my country is always the greatest honor and pleasure so I can't wait for Olympic Games and then you know Master series events you know they are the biggest pillars we have other than slams uh what there's one coming up next week in Indian Wales that's you know why I'm here and I'm going to be playing in Indian Wales first time after 5 years so I'm really looking forward to that and you know just trying to keep my body healthy and

10:41 see how far I can go because I it you know I'm hoping that um I won't be stopping tennis one day when that day arrives in about 25 years that I won't be stopping it uh because of my body but because of my mind uh or of course uh the balance between the private and professional life that is more challenging for me because what I find the most challenging nowadays as a young father of a 9-year-old and six-year-old

11:11 is to is to leave my family uh for three four five weeks that's what I've done now for example a month ago in Australia so I I don't want to miss the first tooth moment I don't want to miss those particular Milestones you know in their lives I want to be able to be the best husband and father I can be and so it it becomes more challenging for a professional tennis player in me to uh

11:39 follow the the full schedule um so I can still play and I still feel desire and motivation to play the biggest events in our sport as long as I have the balance with my family so it's really about prioritization and since the very young age since the childhood days I was really uh fortunate to be surrounded with some amazing people that are experts uh you know in tennis and sports but also psychology and how to manage

12:07 you know uh young people and and and actually steer the early childhood development in the right way uh one of them was yelling AIT she she passed away 10 years ago and I like to call her my tennis mother and she taught me that it's important always to have a goal in life and to have Clarity because goal brings Clarity and Clarity brings discipline uh um and and right attitude and perseverance and resilience um so and and she T me about the holistic kind

12:37 of uh multifaceted go back I was a seven-year-old boy training with her and she would get permission from my parents that I spend time in her house and she used to train with Monica cish and for you uh follow tennis you know who Monica is she's my childhood Idol and obviously going up up with a with a coach that used to coach her I used to hear everything about Monica Monica eat this Monica slept this many hours Monica read

13:06 this books mon so I did the same right and uh and so I used to watch videotapes I used to listen to the classical music and read poetry all at the same time after school hours or after training um was done with my tennis mother because and I at the time I didn't I didn't understand why I was doing that but I was following her because I I believed her and I really enjoyed spending time with her but what she was doing she was

13:34 planting those seeds um that I'm reaping today uh and understanding how everything that I do particularly as an individual athlete um is affecting the way I feel the way I rest the way I recover the way I pre prepare myself and visualization was big part of it as well um so when you are given that you set goals yeah and you need to be very Target targeted about those goals and how you work towards those goals so

14:04 today you're ranked number one in the world what is the goal for 2024 and how do you get there well uh the goals are trying to win every tournament that I play on I don't play that many uh so how many do is there a number that you have to play in order is number you have to play in order to be number one I I I I think I earned my right not to play the full

14:28 season after so many years and which is a good feeling to have because I can kind of Select and pick and choose where I want to participate so as I mentioned before Grand Slams are the ones that value the most of course in the history of our sport so that's where I want to do my best and Olympic Games you know the the summer is going to be really busy but that's where my attention is that's what I'm preparing for and it

14:50 doesn't mean that I don't want to win Indian well so definitely try to do that anywhere I I I play but I I want to play a bit less and focus on on on the big ones so um I know you have actually put a good deal of effort of focusing in on how you can be supportive of younger upand cominging players and through the tennis Association you want to talk a little bit about sure um um 2020

15:17 actually during covid when we had um uh US Open uh in in a bubble environment it was very weird to play the tournament without crowd but that was the period and we wasik popal a Canadian tennis player and and I um started a professional tennis player association ptpa um there is almost like you know uh it's a player organization but it's almost like um equivalent to player

15:47 unions in American Sports uh because we feel that um the players are not represented in the right way uh in in tennis when I say play players I mean both male and female and currently we have around you know 400 450 players across the board uh on different uh parts of the ranking both male and female singles and doubles uh and the main mission of the player organization is is to try to uh uh expand the amount

16:20 of uh players they can live from this sport so increase also the live livelihood of tennis players they're currently playing make sure that we have better foundations for the future generation I think tennis look don't get me wrong tennis is doing well uh on a global stage it's a very popular very Global Sport and we are blessed to be recognized as great athletes a lot of people come and watch us play or on TV as well uh but I think something that is

16:50 really deceiving about tennis and something that not very small percentage of people who follows tennis or sport know is that that you only have around 3 to 400 people in total male and female singles doubles whatever that live from this port globally so that's that's a very small number so if you take like the bottom 25% if you will yes so if you say there's 300 yes okay the bottom 25% what could they make in a year in

17:24 earnings they so they can if they're lucky they'll Break Even uh uh and if they're very lucky they'll get a coach and if they're super lucky they'll get a physiotherapist so most of them don't have staff members to support their careers so they have to do it alone so many players that break even they travel by themselves and um of course tourists provide certain help here and there but because our our tennis ecosystem is very

17:54 fragmented we have many too many governing bodies and and and and in essence player organization that we founded should be part of already the the tour organizations the governing bodies but it isn't I mean we have player councils but there's always a conflict of interest you see um in the player Council in ATP Tour for example men's tour you have 10 player Council Representatives but we have no executive power we have three board player board representatives and there is three

18:24 tournament board Representatives so it's it's very even it's equivalent right it's um it's equal from the tournament side and from the players side but the issue is most of the times you need Super majority of the vots to make any significant changes and most of the times it doesn't happen because we have just different interests from tournaments so it's very hard to break in very hard to earn a living it's very hard and and again and then there are

18:49 talks about you know of course the premium tours and and so forth so taking a game to a different level trying to to maximize the potential and the commercial value of the highest tourn you know highest tournaments which are grand slams and so forth which of course I'm in favor of we want to take the tour and value of of the whole tennis ecosystem higher but we cannot we cannot forget about the base because that's where we all came from and that's you

19:18 know it's unfortunate but in my country for example about we we had a golden era of Serbian tennis at one point in last 20 years at one point we had four number ones in the world within two years we had two um two wom number ones in singles an Ivanovich Yankovich myself in men's singles and men's doubles n zimon so for a country that never had a tennis tradition or history that was incredible but we didn't come from a system it was

19:48 kind of a accidental success even though I don't believe in coincidences but still it was incredible we are actually children of of war that faced adversity and you mentioned that in the introduction and I I would just take a moment to reflect on that that I believe that that has helped us to deal with adversity in life much better and much much more it's not that I that I think that everybody should go through that terrible horrifying experience of War

20:18 it's absolutely terrible but at the same time it makes you more appreciative of everything that you have because we we we we grew up with nothing literally nothing and then you know you obviously everything you experience is is incredible bonus so I think it's it's very important always to have in mind all this base level players Juniors that you know they need to be incentivized and in our country what I meant to say is that we had uh 15 years ago a stat

20:49 that was saying that the kids were leaving tennis for whatever reason in age in average in age 14 or 15 and and 5 years ago it was 1112 which is paradoxal because we had so much success and you would think I mean Tennessee is popular but because we have lack of system and of course the economics and the you know organization so we have to improve on that not just in my country but overall we have to

21:16 make sure we get closer to all the American Sports for example I was at UCLA yesterday it's amazing the football team there the conditions the facilities the basketball you know tennis team is doing well as well don't get me wrong but I think you know we still you know miles uh behind I'm going to make a hard pivot here and I want to talk about you as an entrepreneur and the businesses that um you've actually um started up and have

21:46 um and very specifically uh Regenesis and uh cila yes and maybe tell us a little bit about them and what your goals and Ambitions are which come out out of your yeah your own experience and how you've learned about your body and physical fitness and Longevity sure reg Genesis pod uh is is basically a recovery pod it is a culmination or a combination of the Technologies a lead Leading Edge Technologies for wellness that is out there that I have been using

22:17 for my career the last 15 years or so so you know the idea came came about you know 10 years ago I was one of the airports and I was thinking to myself you know I mean how how great it would be if you have a capsule where you know for busy life people modern paac people that don't have time or patience you know to stay for hours in wellness centers or whatever you know go in and

22:39 out and feel refreshed uh and and kind of re revitalized recharged for the rest of the day you know stay 5 10 15 20 minutes 30 minutes and and and actually have kind of a modern solution to A busy life so that's that's where IDE started and and uh I met my um my partner partner um years ago and and he's from Australia tell us what it does yeah so basically um it's a fully immersive multisensory uh experience that is also

23:10 uh uh physiological but also psychological experience that basically creates a pathway for yeah um experiencing the better version of yourself so uh as I said you know modern Pace lifestyle uh people don't have time they feel exhausted they just they need a Quick Fix so we believe we've created something that is a quick fix without uh a need to take a a a pill or tablet or drink anything just need to go in there relax uh there's a screen inside for

23:41 people that don't want to have the uh light therapy because we have a combination of light Sound Energy frequency pulse electromagnetic Aroma crystals so we have we combined a lot of different things together and it took four years to develop because we wanted to make sure sure that uh no technology is interrupting with the other they're all uh synergetic and synchronized and cohesive and they complement each other so we believe we created something great it was this year is meant to be the year

24:12 where we present the Pod so it's currently here in Los Angeles and it's going to travel it was in Australia as well so we're trying to get people in introduce people to uh so I he's invited me to come try the Pod and and so um if I come back back here next year it's because it was successful uh abolutely if you don't see me you probably know what happened um the clock's running down on us but I want to

24:40 do something that I I think might be fun for us which is a speed round sure so I'm just going to fire away and fire back or tell me to take a hike what's your favorite movie um a few but Avatar what's your favorite TV show um friends all right there you go who's your favorite actor DiCaprio dairo depr dairo there too that's okay

25:10 but I connect you merge that's okay fine actress um well uh Jessica Alba okay uh superhero my mother which which mother you got two both you see you DiCaprio and Theo mom and tennis momal and my tennis mother there we go okay I just want to be cover all paths here uh

25:40 favorite book only way to win Dr Jim Lair your favorite subject that's not tennis Wellness okay what's your favorite team sport basketball we're going to a Laker game Saturday night just so everybody knows there so favorite tournament venue the place you most look forward to playing anywhere in the world most sacret yes tennis court in the world Center Court of Wimbledon that's great um racket you

26:13 most regret breaking every single one um got a favorite vacation spot place you like to escape to I grew up on the mountains so I love I love skiing I love mountains any mountain I mean particularly the ones where I grew up in Serbia um but if it's a tropical destination that that it's um malds how old do you feel um I replace the old with young

26:47 okay how old do you how young do you feel very young 30 it's because of the Pod 20 for sure 28 30 32 22 uh no I um age is just the number it's not a cliche but I really do I do see it that way so I you're only as as young or old as you feel so I feel uh full of life what's your cheat meal cuz you obviously Pizza all right

27:21 excellent um and pancakes and few more other things um you can't see it no you can't see no I can't see any of it that's uh hidden well um how do fans call you the goat in Serbia uh Ido they tell me Edo Edo and and and and what does that how's that

27:53 that that that means let's go come on Edo it's like a a signature grunt when I win a match or point so I thank everybody how about an Ido for the great the [Applause] goat