Albanians threatened Novak over Kosovo, junkies planned kidnapping: Two Djokovic's secrets revealed

Foto: ArenaSport, Profimedia/AFP

Dijana Djokovic was the first guest on the Arenasport series "Mothers of Champions."

She recounted some of the most difficult moments in her life when the Djokovic family managed to, making great financial sacrifices, get Novak on the right path.

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The path to the top of the world was thorny for Novak, many did not know about the multitude of difficulties and problems he faced as his career took off, but his mother Dijana revealed some details.

"He got threats from Albanians because he said Kosovo is Serbia. At that time, in 2009, we were guarded by members of the Scotland Yard and I was scared. He lost to (Marat) Safin because he was under pressure. We didn't talk about it, but those are the moments when you're really scared for your family. Also, children from the neighborhood, drug addicts, according to the story of one woman, wanted to abduct (our) dog and ask for ransom," said Dijana Djokovic.

She also spoke about Djokovic's watershed moments.

"He had health problems, a nose deviation, he had difficulty breathing, then he found out he was gluten intolerant. He didn't throw matches, but he thinks, like me, that health comes first. In 2007, after 5 days of matches, he handed Nadal the Wimbledon semifinals. We were putting compresses on him all night, he could barely walk in his slippers. He took him (Nadal) by storm in the first set, 6-2, Nadal didn't know his ass from his elbow. But when he asked for a time-out to wrap his wounds from blisters, Rafa smelled blood, made him walk a lot more, and he had to surrender the match."

Still, the Rio Olympics stands out as the hardest moment.

"The tears in Rio are the biggest of his I have seen, everything suited him, but something stood in the way of him winning gold. I had a hard time with it because he doesn't cry often. It hit him because he disappointed the nation and didn't give the showing he wanted to."

(Telegraf.rs)