Tennis: Painting a picture of Novak Djokovic

A billboard depicting Novak Djokovic currently on display on a building in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo / AP

1) Serb Djokovic was born in Belgrade, in the old Yugoslavia, to a Serbian father and a mother of Croatian heritage. The Yugoslav war of the 1990s had a huge influence over his life - he experienced everything from lining up for basic food items to enduring Nato bombing raids.

Two years ago, Djokovic said: "These kinds of things make you stronger and hungrier for success. That probably has been the foundation - I came from literally nothing and difficult life circumstances together with my family and with my people. It's why I find that extra gear or necessary mental strength."

2) The 34-year-old is tied on 20 Grand Slam singles titles with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - the undisputed candidates for best of all time.

Federer and Nadal enjoy an enormous popularity which Djokovic has struggled to match, but there is an increasing feeling that the Serb is indeed the best ever.

Pete Sampras - the fourth-best player in history by the numbers - has no doubt that Djokovic is the greatest.

"He has dominated two of the greats in Roger and Rafa and he handled the next generation of players very well - all at the same time," Sampras said last year.

3) A number of war stories portray Djokovic's life growing up. They include his panic-stricken family running for an air-raid shelter, stumbling and feeling a bomb go off nearby. His 12-year-old birthday celebrations were cut short by an American fighter overhead. He also practised tennis in empty swimming pools believing it was safer than on exposed tennis courts.

4) The big break which set the Djokovic career in motion came when his family moved to a winter mountain resort area which had tennis courts nearby. They were used by renowned coach Jelena Gencic who spotted Djokovic's extreme talent when he was about six years old. His parents were skiers, and his father a very good footballer, but they were initially disparaging about tennis. Gencic, who went on to lay the foundations of his career, told them their son was the "golden one".

"Oh, special boy, that boy was unbelievable," Gencic - who died in 2013 - told the New York Times. "Very intelligent…He knew very well what to do, how much to do."

She introduced him to advanced reading material, and also music such as a special favourite - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Djokovic said: "Pretty much what I know on court I owe to her."

5) Djokovic and his future wife Jelena Ristic met through playing tennis at their high school, began dating in 2005, and were married in 2014. She has described her younger self as a bookworm and "nerd" who was determined to get the grades to pursue a dream of studying overseas, which she did in Milan.

6) Stories refer to Djokovic as highly intelligent, and he also speaks English, French, German and Italian.

7) Djokovic is famously patriotic, and probably took it too far early in his career when he used a Serbian military salute after matches. He has since said it is "not good for anybody to be stuck in emotional hatred and rage". He protested against the 2008 declaration of independence by Kosovo, his father's birthplace where there is a divide between Albanian and Serbs.

"It's the birthplace of my family and indeed of Serbian culture itself," an unapologetic Djokovic said at the time.

Novak Djokovic celebrates his epic victory over Rafael Nadal. Photo / Getty

8) Of his many extraordinary matches, the near-six-hour 2012 Australian Open final epic against Nadal may be the best. It included a 31-shot rally and Djokovic said: "Thousands of thoughts going through the mind…trying to separate the right from wrong…I'm playing against one of the best players ever, the player that is so mentally strong." They had a 54-shot rally a year later in the US Open final.

9) He has been ranked No 1 in the world for a record 350-plus weeks, breaking Federer's mark of 310 weeks. He has finished the year ranked No 1 seven times, beating Sampras' mark. Some observers believe he wants to obliterate the women's records as well. Margaret Court has the most Grand Slams at 24, while Steffi Graf finished the year on top eight times.

10) His dedication includes a strict diet - the chocolate lover even limited himself to just one little square after winning the 2012 Australian Open epic against Nadal.

He attributes collapses early in his career to food issues, after finding he has problems with wheat, dairy products and even tomatoes. This is ironic, given that his parents owned a pizzeria.

Djokovic says a prayer of thanks for good food before every meal, tries to buy organic produce, and eats the same "perfectly calibrated" breakfast every day.

He wrote about this in a book with the snappy title Serve to Win, the 14-day Gluten-Free Plan for Physical and Mental Excellence.

11) Djokovic is driven by his desire to win more Grand Slams. He described breaking the Federer record for most weeks at No 1 as a "relief" because he could focus solely on chasing more major titles.

12) His inspirational hero was Sampras - watching him beat Jim Courier in the 1993 Wimbledon final felt like a "higher power instilled in me - I just kind of received that information from above". He loved the way Sampras stayed "present and calm…I started impersonating the top players, taking the best shots from each."

13) It's not the only thing he has imitated. Djokovic has done humorous impersonations of other top players such as Nadal, Federer and Maria Sharapova.