Novak Djokovic: how a kid from war-torn Belgrade beat the odds

(CNN) — Novak Djokovic was only 11 years old and sleeping in his bed in Belgrade when a loud explosion, followed by the noise of shattering glass and air raid sirens woke up him.
It’s March 24, 1999, along with the air strikes on the Serbian capital indicate the beginning of what is a 78-day campaign from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to attempt to bring to an end atrocities committed by Yugoslavia’s then-president Slobodan Milosevic’s troops against ethnic Albanians from the province of Kosovo.
While his dad, Srdjan, helped his mommy, Dijana, that temporarily lost consciousness after hitting his head against the radiator after the explosion, Djokovic searched within their pitch dark apartment.
„At 11, I was the big brother,“ the top-ranked Serb composed in“Serve to triumph,“ his 2013 autobiography. „I had been holding myself responsible for their security ever since NATO forces began bombing my hometown of Belgrade.“
READ: Djokovic wins fifth title
READ: Wimbledon victory was’the toughest‘ of my profession
Remarkable journey
Two years on, the Djokovic that is now 32-year-old is the favorite to win. Such was his dominance at the calendar year, he’s clinched four of the five slams. He now holds 16 personalities, only two shy of Rafael Nadal of Spain, also four behind men’s Grand Slam record holder Roger Federer of Switzerland.
His journey by war-torn Belgrade to the top of the men’s match has been nothing short of remarkable.
In the introduction of his autobiography,“ Djokovic clarified how the odds were stacked against him.
„A boy like me, rising up in Serbia, becoming a tennis winner? It was unlikely in even the best of conditions. Plus it became more improbable as soon as the bombs began dropping,“ he wrote.
READ: Are smart phones currently holding tennis’s next generation back?
Bomb shelter
From the first chapter of his autobiography, titled“Backhands and Bomb Shelters,“ Djokovic vividly recalls the night that changed his life forever.
After Dijana regained consciousness, the Djokovic family tried to make their way into the apartment construction of an aunt’s family, which was bomb shelter and entered the unlit streets of Belgrade.
Djokovic found himself fell flat on his face at the road while the roads ran , carrying his brothers.
„And it occurred,“ Djokovic wrote. „Growing up from across the roof of our building came the steel grey triangle of an F-117 bomber.“
„What happened next would never abandon me,“ he explained. „Even today, loud sounds fill me with fear.“
The bomber dropped two laser-guided missiles right over his head, which struck a hospital creating several roads away.
„I remember the temperate, temperate, metallic shell in the air, and the way the whole city seemed to glow like a mature tangerine,“ Djokovic stated in his publication.
The streets covered in mild, until they reached the shield safely Djokovic spotted his parents and brothers in the far space, and chased after them.
There were approximately 20 families hiding from the shelter.
„There were kids crying. I didn’t stop shivering for the rest of the nighttime,“ Djokovic stated in his publication.
In a 2015 meeting with CNN television, Djokovic remembered the bombing effort, during which he and his family would spend each night in the shelter from 8 p.m., and just had electricity for a couple hours every day.
„These days are certainly something I do not wish for anybody to experience,“ he explained. „Two-and-a-half months, each and every day and night, bombs coming into the city. We watched planes flying over our heads, and literally rockets and bombs landing half a mile away.“
‚Magic youth‘
Until that dark spring night in 1999, Djokovic had enjoyed what he predicted into his autobiography, a“magic youth.“
His dad Srdjan was a former skier and Djokovic started playing tennis at age four. No one in his family had played the game before.
Djokovic, who’d spent large parts of his youth in the tiny darkened mountain resort of Kopaonik, where his parents ran a pizza parlor, told CNN television in 2014:“It was kind of like a destiny. Something happened out of the blue pill. That the tennis court was seen by me once I was four, and I watched tennis on TV. My dad bought me a little tennis racket and that’s when I think we all fell in love with the sport.“
At age six, he had been spotted in Kopaonik from the late Serbian coach Jelena Gencic, who’d worked with Serbian-born former world No. 1 and also nine-time major winner Monica Seles of the united states. Shortly after, Gencic told his parents Djokovic has been“the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles.“
The pair will work together for five years, through which Gencic taught her many life lessons that are student. When he learned of her death through the 2013 French Open djokovic was so grief-stricken that he forfeited his post-match press conference.
Different perspective
Even though the bombing raids could easily have finished his tennis career, it put life at a view, Djokovic told CNN television in 2015.
„It gave me much more admiration for all of the values that I have in my entire life,“ he said. „From tennis to anything. I know what it feels like being without anything less or more, and then being in this popular and global sport on the planet. So this contrast gives me the ideal perspective in life“
Although Djokovic stated in his autobiography the relentless bombing campaign, the biggest military operation in NATO history, left him feeling“helpless,“ it didn’t stop him playing tennis.
Throughout the campaign, Djokovic awakened his training sessions in fact. He practised across Belgrade picked by Gencic at websites for up to five hours a day, based on where the most bombs had dropped.
From becoming paralyzed by panic originally, something changed since the strikes lasted, Djokovic stated in his book.
„We made a decision to stop being afraid,“ he explained. „After so much death, so much destruction, we simply stopped hiding. When you realize you are really helpless, a particular sense of liberty carries over.“
No. 1
After Milosevic agreed to troop withdrawals from Kosovo on June 10, 1999, that the air strikes finished.
In September of that year, the now 12-year-old Djokovic abandoned Serbia for Munich, Germanyto train at Yugoslav expert Niki Pilic’s tennis academy. He would turn pro four years later.
Back in 1994, the then seven-year-old Djokovic appeared on Serbian TV, confidently telling his congregation:“The aim for me is to turn into the world No. 1.“
See CNN.com/game to get more news, features, and videos
Seventeen decades after, he became the first female player to rise into the No. 1 ranking over the men’s ATP Tour after he won his first Wimbledon title.

Read more here: http://lederhosen.net/?p=97691