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

(CNN) — Novak Djokovic was just 11 years old and participated in his bed Belgrade when a loud explosionfollowed by the sound of shattering glass and air raid sirens woke him up.
Its March 24, 1999, and the air strikes the Serbian capital indicate the beginning of what would be a 78-day effort from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to try and bring to a finish atrocities committed by Yugoslavias then-president Slobodan Milosevics troops from ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.
Djokovic hunted for four-year-old Djordje, eight-year-old Marko and his brothers, in their pitch dark flat while his father, Srdjan, helped his mum, Dijana, that lost consciousness after hitting his head against the doorway after the explosion.
At 11, I was the big brother, the top-ranked Serb composed inServe to win, his 2013 autobiography. Id been holding myself accountable for their safety ever since NATO forces began bombing my hometown of Belgrade.
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Remarkable journey
Two decades on, the today 32-year-old Djokovic is the favorite to win at the US Open, which starts August 26 in New York. Such has been his dominance at the past calendar year, hes clinched four of the five slams. He holds 16 majors, only two shy of Rafael Nadal of Spain, along with four behind mens Grand Slam record holder Roger Federer of Switzerland.
His journey from war-torn Belgrade to the top of the mens match was nothing short of impressive.
From the introduction to his autobiography, Djokovic clarified the odds were heavily stacked against him.
A boy like me, rising up in Serbia, becoming a tennis champion? It was improbable in the best of circumstances. Plus it became ever more improbable when the bombs started falling, he wrote.
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Bomb shelter
In the first chapter of his autobiography, titledBackhands and Bomb Shelters, Djokovic vividly recalls the night that changed his life forever.
After Dijana recovered awareness, the Djokovic family strove to create their way into the local apartment building of an aunts family, that had a bomb shelter and entered the unlit streets of Belgrade.
While his parents ran down the streets, holding his younger brothers, then Djokovic abruptly found himself dropped flat on his face.
And then it happened, Djokovic wrote. Rising up from over the roof of the building came the metal grey triangle of an F-117 bomber.
What happened next would not abandon me, he said. Even today, loud sounds fill me with fear.
The bomber fell over his mind, which broke a hospital creating several roads away.
I recall the temperate, temperate, metallic shell from the air, and the way the whole city seemed to shine like a ripe tangerine, Djokovic said in his book.
The roads covered in light, until they reached the concrete shield 30, Djokovic spotted his parents and brothers and chased after them.
There were about 20 families.
There were kids crying. I didnt stop shivering for the rest of the night, Djokovic said in his publication.
In a 2015 interview with CNN television, Djokovic recalled the bombing campaign, through which he and his family would spend each night at the shelter from 8 p.m., and only had power for a few hours every day.
Those times are certainly something which I dont wish for anybody to encounter, he said. Two-and-a-half months, each and every night and day, 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 this dark spring night in 1999, Djokovic had enjoyed what he called into his autobiography, amagic childhood.
His dad Srdjan had been a former skier and also Djokovic first began playing tennis at age four. No one in his family had played the game before.
Djokovic, who spent large sections of his youth in the small Serbian 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. I saw that the tennis court and tennis was seen by me when I was four. My dad bought me a little tennis racket and thats when I think all of us fell in love with the game.
In the age of six, he had been spotted in Kopaonik from the late Serbian coach Jelena Gencic, who had worked together with Serbian-born former world No. 1 and also nine-time major winner Monica Seles of the US. Shortly after, Gencic told his parents Djokovic has beenthe greatest gift I have seen since Monica Seles.
The group will work together for five years, during which her life lessons that are pupil were educated by Gencic. Djokovic was when he learned during the 2013 French Open, he canceled his post-match press conference.
Different perspective
Although the bombing raids could have ended his tennis career, it put life at a completely different standpoint, Djokovic told CNN television in 2015.
It gave me much more admiration for all the values that Ive in my entire life, he said. From tennis to anything. I understand what it feels like being without anything less, and then being in the top of the planet in this popular and global sport on the planet. So this contrast gives me the ideal outlook in life
Although Djokovic stated in his autobiography the constant bombing campaign, the largest military operation in NATO history, left him feelinghelpless, it did not stop him enjoying tennis.
During the effort, Djokovic stepped up his coaching sessions Actually. He practised in the hope at sites based on where the recent bombs had fallen, for as much as five hours a day.
Something changed Djokovic stated in his book, as the strikes continued from becoming paralyzed by fear originally.
We chose to stop being fearful, he said. After so much death, so much destruction, we just stopped hiding. When you realize youre truly powerless, a particular sense of liberty takes over.
No. 1
The air strikes ended, after Milosevic agreed to troop withdrawals.
The today 12-year-old Djokovic abandoned Serbia for Munich, Germanyto train in Yugoslav pro Niki Pilics tennis academy. Pro would turn four years later.
In 1994, the then seven-year-old Djokovic appeared on TV, confidently telling his congregation:The goal for me would be to turn into the world No. 1
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Seventeen years later, he became the first scripted participant to rise into the No. 1 position over the mens ATP Tour after he won his first Wimbledon title.

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