Novak Djokovic reveals how he felt ‘not liked’ on the tour in his early days

The great Novak Djokovic has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in the sport of tennis. A record 24 Grand Slams, 40 masters 1000 titles, Olympic gold and year-end #1 on eight separate occasions. A resume this impressive, however, seemed a long way off in his early days on the tour. In a recent interview with 20 Minuten, Djokovic revealed how he felt ‘not liked’ by fans who watched him play. He explained how the aura of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made him go into the bad books of many.

The mid 2000s saw the tennis watching community fall in love with possibly two of the greatest to have ever played the sport. Federer and Nadal built a very strong rivalry between themselves and the fans absolutely drooled over it. The fact that both players were of contrasting styles and favored different surfaces made their battles more intriguing. However, early 2007 saw a new name emerge and show some consistency on the tour. That was Novak Djokovic. In a couple of years time this young boy started challenging Federer and Nadal at the Grand Slam level and also started defeating the both of them in different tournaments made fans look at him as a threat to their favorite.

Djokovic in his interview mentioned how he was made to feel that he wasn’t supposed to be there with Federer and Nadal. “I was never as loved as Federer & Nadal because I wasn’t supposed to be there. I was the little guy, the 3rd guy who came & said I’m going to be number 1. Many people didn’t like that,” said the Serb. However as destiny was to have it, despite getting a lot of slack from the crowd for coming in the way of Federer and Nadal, Djokovic rose to heights never seen before with sheer hard work and tenacity.

He built thriling rivalries with both the Swiss and the Spaniard. What made it more fascinating was that by the time both the maestros called time on their career, Djokovic led the head to head with the both of them. In the 60 matches played against Nadal, Djokovic has won 31 to Nadal’s 29. In the 50 matches played against Federer, Djokovic has won 27 and the Swiss has won 23.

Novak Djokovic had his struggles on the tour early on. However, now as he enters the final leg of his career he has given himself a chance to win a record 25th Grand Slam. As Wimbledon comes upon us in a couple of weeks time, fans around the world will be rooting for the Serb maestro.