Djokovic talks struggles early in his career

Novak Djokovic did not come from a privileged background and he talked about his struggles many times in the past.

Moments from his 2019 interview with Graham Bensinger are making the rounds these days on social media and during the interview, Djokovic talked about how the family of five struggled financially at one point in time. He credited his parents Srdjan and Dijana for keeping him going:

"For a long time, they did hide and they succeeded in hiding a lot of things that made them suffer. They had to sacrifice in order for me to pursue my love for tennis, my love for sport. There were certain things that they could not just hide from me, I could clearly see."

He continued:

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"My mom was and still is the pillar of the family, she has that stability and holds everyone together. She's an incredibly strong woman and truly an inspiring woman that has had to handle four men in a very small apartment with all our different needs and activities. She did everything one woman could possibly do...she's a superwoman, literally."

One particular instance always sticks out for Djokovic:

"At that time when you had a dollar bill of 10 Deutsche Mark for an entire family of five, it took a lot of guts to stick with the vision of supporting me to become a successful professional tennis player. On the court, when I somehow need to find a way and find that strength, that's the dad in me"