CELEBRITY ATHLETE Reveals The MINDSET You Need To WIN IN LIFE | Novak Djokovic & Jay Shetty

i can show to the world that uh you know

kid from

you know war torn country can actually

be the best

in in a sport that is very global that's

what happened but all of these

experiences

have been there for a reason and i i

don't regret anything i don't pity

anything i just feel like that's

something that i had to go through

and i think it's so beautiful that you

are mentoring other

serbian talents and tennis players

because i think that's what everyone

needs they need a

a guiding hand they need someone who's

been there we need to share

absolutely yeah and i think so much of

the time we live in this scarcity

mindset even with the deals

people say things like oh it's good for

you right now but it might not be later

so make the most of it and and then that

intention is fueling people's

true you know greedy mentality like oh

now is the time you've got to use it

otherwise you know

i know i know because i i i've been

and and still trying to learn how to

manage this myself

because i have also lots of

opportunities and being number one of

the world and

tennis is a global sport and everything

but you know

i i'm kind of going through the this

this

um kind of centering

process of understanding what i need to

you know

do in order to organize my life better

in order to focus on

what is the most important you know

aspect of my existence

here you know the the the inner peace

you know the spiritual growth the

understanding of of

self and and of course the family the

close ones

but you know for for most of my career

it was about tennis all the time you

know

so tennis dennis dennis and then my ego

plays with me so much i mean he plays

with all of us you know absolutely

but you know it's i i've been i've been

thinking firstly that ego is the enemy

but

actually now i'm i'm kind of more

leaning towards the theory that

that ego is is it should

be befriended you know it should be

you know part of your process

of thinking of feeling and

and and in this way you are also

disarming your ego in a way right

rather than kind of trying to reject it

and then you creating this and this is

it's so much

you know what we are actually going

through out in an outside world as well

right yeah

absolutely yeah so let me introduce you

and then i'll explain why i did it

because i think it makes sense

hey everyone thank you so much for

coming back for this very

very special episode i'm genuinely so

honored and grateful to introduce our

next guest

not only is he the number one tennis

player in the world he has 14 grand slam

titles

including four wimbledon's but on top of

all of that he's extremely spiritual an

incredible healer transformer

and someone who's doing so much great

work in the world

i've had the pleasure of getting to know

him over instagram and whatsapp and

today i get to sit down with him

for the first time but he's definitely

someone who's attracted me

here to monaco through his energy and

through his incredibly

humble and graceful spirit so novak

it is an absolute pleasure with you my

friend my friend

and i and i feel your energy over what's

happening instagram i feel it in front

of you right now

and i really believe that we've just

been pulled together

so so good i mean thank you so much for

for coming

to to see me here i i'm really honored

um and it's as you said you know

social media was the platform through

which we established the

the first uh connection but

i feel like you know watching you uh

and and what you do and and sharing your

message i felt connected you with you

instantly and

your message deeply resonates with me

with

people that are close to me and uh it's

it's a dream come true to be with you

here today

no you're the sweetest man and and i

genuinely feel that when you have a good

and anyone who's listening

i highly recommend this if you have a

good online connection with someone

take it offline as quick as you can yes

like turn it into face to face and

that's what i saw that we were

connecting

so beautifully i remember one of the

first things you said to me was

higher forces are connecting us like

higher forces are between us getting

connected

and when you said that to me i just felt

i have to meet you there's no need

to keep this relationship online there's

no need to just

have it here if this is someone who

truly believes there's a deeper

connection here

let's let's get together let's see each

other so i'm so grateful that you opened

up

this opportunity for me to visit you

thank you very much and i'm really

grateful that

and and generally you know honored that

you

you guys came all the way from la you

know it's it's a long trip

and and i think we you know we all

uh share a common kind of vision

and and and compassion for for you know

for the world and we

i think we all interact you know with

the world in

very similar ways even though we you

know i'm an athlete

uh but i i don't like to categorize or

label myself as an athlete you know as

society likes

um i think we we expand much more than

that

and uh social media and and uh

internet is is great if you use it in

the right way

so i i feel like it's it's a great

platform

it got us connected and we're here today

uh and and not a while ago i've sent you

a message on instagram because i'm

i'm your fan i follow of course i follow

your message and i follow your energy

and everything that you've been

spreading and and sharing with people so

uh

i'm just happy to to get deep and talk

about

uh you know things that i usually don't

get asked

on the tennis tournaments so it's it's

really exciting

absolutely absolutely and that's what i

love about you and that's what i'm

excited for everyone who's listening and

watching

is that you are an athlete but what i

was saying to you earlier is

you are so much more and you have so

much more to give you've worked so

hard on the court but what i love about

you is that you're also an inner athlete

like you're doing this inner work and

and you've really focused on growing

yourself healing yourself working on

yourself so let's dive into all of that

today

make this the interview when you make

this the interview where you get to talk

about everything that's important to you

and that's why this podcast actually

started i was speaking at an event last

year

and tom brady was speaking before me and

he was interviewed by a sports

journalist

and the conference was actually about

building meaningful lives

so i was asked to speak about that topic

tom was speaking before

and the interviewer asked him a question

and tom started speaking about his

family

he started talking about being a father

he started talking about all these

beautiful values and responsibilities

and and how he's growing now that his

sports career is

is coming to a you know a natural end

etc

and the sports journalists just said to

him they said tom

leave all this soft stuff let's talk

about the sports

and and i felt so bad for him because i

just felt like he was really trying to

open up his heart

and the sports journalist was almost

just squashing all of that and saying

let's just talk about your rings like

let's talk about the medals

and so i wanted to build a platform

where people like yourself

and people from music media movies film

everyone

can actually come and talk about your

deeper sides

and and your real heart so i want you to

feel really comfortable to be able to do

that today

i am very much are definitely one of the

very few people that

uh in my life and that i've

known you know thus far and and of

course

uh that i'm following that i can share

this message with and i i i truly mean

that because

and i i don't mean that in a bad way for

the society i'm not judging i don't like

the judgment i don't like that you know

the word hatred or anything like that i

you know

i i respect everyone and and we i

respect also this kind of uh

moment in time that we as people are

yes you know and our society is where it

is

uh with a reason and we just have to go

through that stage of development i

think and

an evolution and uh it took me time to

really

i feel like come to that understanding

in a way

because i was also for many years

through my character building process

and spiritual development and kind of

opening my mind

to different dimensions and horizons of

of you know self-awareness and self-care

i i was just feeling um

a lot of times uh lonely you know and

and uh i just

felt like the what i was doing was not

understood especially in my world

and not just understood but it was not

accepted which was uh

even worse because then you know you're

labeled as a

kind of like a black sheep you know in

the herd

and and but i still wanted to play

tennis and still stay in that in that

in that sport in that uh you know field

of life and which i have and i'm not

you know regretting contrary i'm so

blessed

to do what i love i've started playing

tennis when i was four years old

um and my family did not have any tennis

tradition so it was

literally a sign of a destiny

three tennis courts in front of my

parents restaurant in a small

mountain place in serbia called coponic

my father was sorry but giving you a

little background yeah my family

um was a professional skier he was a

skiing instructor that's how he met my

mom

on the skiing slope and you know it's a

funny story you know she kind of like

tell us that she you know she she was

skiing and then she fell and then he was

there and he's like i

need to help he didn't trip i think i

can help you

he probably organized the whole thing

you know but uh

but you know that's how they met and you

know they they you know six months later

they got they got married and i was

already my mom was pregnant with me and

and then

a year later they opened a restaurant in

the very mountain where they met

and that's the the restaurant was the

business

that generated the you know the budget

for our family so we spent a lot of time

there

because we lived uh three hours by car

away in the capital city of serbia

belgrade where

i i went to school and my two younger

brothers have two younger brothers

um their names are marco and georgia

their

one is four years old younger than me

and the other one is eight years younger

than me

and this is like we talked about you

know my children and the indigo children

that kind of like a new wave of

you know of energy and consciousness and

awareness that we're receiving from

above

through children that already have you

know what we don't have

you know and that's what i see in my

brother you know

and and he's been born with this

capacity and ability to just

multitask and deal with things so

successfully and still be happy and it's

it's quite amazing

so you know going back to to to my story

is

you know i've i felt that in my world of

tennis i just uh

when you're a professional athlete um

you know it's all about winning or

losing right i

i just i don't see losing or failure

as as such i i see it as

another great lesson um that

awaits for me to learn from did you

always have that even when you were

young yeah no i just as i said i i went

through my evolution

and and uh i was fortunate really

that when i started playing tennis i

ran into and came across some really

really knowledgeable people

about tennis and about life in

particular

one woman and her name is yelena gentich

she's not with us anymore she passed

away in 2012 but she was my tennis

mother

so my parents uh you know invested a lot

of energy and efforts and

in those times during 90s when i was

growing up

we had two wars we had

unfortunately war that broke down the

whole yugoslavian region because it was

big yugoslavian country very strong

made of you know six different states i

mean countries that are

right now independent i'm coming from

one of them which is serbia

and uh and then during 90s from like 91

92

all the way till 2000 we had embargo

so people waiting in line for bread and

milk and like

absolutely most you know necessary

things and

then 99 we had in serbia we had bombings

for two and a half months every single

day and night

i was there my family was there every

single day we woke up every night for

two and a half months

because of the alarm and because of the

planes flying over us and

it was it was devastating it was

frightening it was uh

worst thing that that definitely we you

know we ever experienced

uh you know seeing planes over your head

and just dropping bombs and all you know

hospitals and

and everything it was just uh terrible

many innocent people died

thankfully i i didn't lose personally

anyone that is

very close to me uh but i know people

that lost

you know their loved ones and uh that's

a scar that stays with you forever

so this memory stays and will stay with

me forever but

um at the beginning i

felt like probably most of the people in

my country um

i felt i want revenge

you know i felt like you know who are

these guys to bomb innocent people what

the hell is going on i was 12 years old

and i remember

uh i was there day and night and i

celebrated my 12th birthday

during the day because we didn't go to

schools obviously it was just uh

hiding in shelters and everything and

then we just after a week or two hiding

in shelters

we just said okay we're just gonna you

know go about our life

and that's it you know we don't we're

not gonna care what happens

if you know if we're hit we're hit you

know what we can do

i mean and so i remember on my 12th

birthday

uh kids were singing my friends at the

tennis club because we spent a lot of

pla

a lot of times playing tennis because we

we didn't go to school so for us it was

great

and uh and then we we they were singing

the happy birthday song and there was a

plane flying and i have this image and i

was playing

and just kind of dropping bombs

everywhere and it was

it's terrible but at the same time i

i've i felt like as as i was

kind of growing you know inside out as

well

i felt and i think my parents helped me

a lot with that

is that they you know we can't

judge the whole nation or everyone

for the actions of certain individuals

or certain

groups or institutions or whatever that

decided to

bomb our country and just kill innocent

people we can't

you know judge everyone for that you

know

and and that's that's when i kind of

like shifted and i just i

right you know this moment absolutely

forgiven

everyone and everything that has done

that but

you cannot forget that you know you

cannot forget that it stays as i said as

a scar

but it has on a brighter side brought a

lot of

value to my life and a lot of

appreciation for the value

i felt like this experience i'm so

grateful for this experience i truly am

because

it has helped me to shape me into the

person that i am today

the player tennis player that i am it

has made me hungrier for

the success in tennis made me hungrier

to

work train build myself so i can show to

the world that

you know kid from you know war torn

country

can actually be the best in in a sport

that is very global

and uh and and so that's that's what

happened but all of these experiences

have definitely uh

been there for a reason and i i i don't

regret

anything i don't pity anything i just

feel like

okay you know that's that's my karma you

know that's something that i had to go

through and i had to

live uh that and and and and

if we manage to get through that as not

just as a family but as

people as a nation you know there's

there's not much that can break you down

so

you know historically you know serbian

people and people in the region have

have had a lot of

you know hard wars and hardships and

and and they've been through that so

it's it's really was really nice to see

the

the unity with people and i remember one

of the i was actually talking the other

day with with my brother and my wife

about

still reflecting on that stay on that

period and what was the strongest

image that stayed with us from this

bombings of two and a half months in 99

and one of them for me was obviously the

one that i explained

to you with that with a birthday and

shelters but there was one

where i remember uh

thousands of people gathering on the

bridge one of the most important bridges

in

in our city uh with uh shirts

uh that that have targets there and

everyone painted their heads with tar

like like in a in a shape of a target

and

singing songs and you know kind of just

enjoying having fun and in a way showing

to the world

and to whoever is you know uh

you know kind of kind of dropping bombs

that we are the target so

we are protecting this bridge we are

protecting this this city

you know if you want to crash it you

have to go through us and and it was

i think more than that it was just that

that that power of unity you know that

that energy and that strength that they

just showed their resilience

and that was beautiful you know in in

those moments of hardship

that's incredible man that's that's such

a

i've heard you tell that story i'm

sidetracked from your quest

no and i've no no i'm glad you did

because i've heard that story before i'm

glad that everyone who hasn't heard that

story before has an opportunity now

and and the reason why it's so beautiful

is because

that's probably like most of the planet

does not experience that

that's that's pretty extreme yes right

and so for someone like you to come from

that

extreme and especially what you said

your initial response was revenge

for you to be able to transform that

revenge into resilience

that's incredible because it would have

been so much easier to just have that

pain and have that

unforgiveness and so it was a great

story that

that um i've read and i'm sure it's

quite popular on the social media

everyone is sharing it

it was about the snake and the in the

soul okay i don't know if you came

across it

and it's you know the snake it's kind of

it's true story actually the snake came

into the

you know carpenting's uh uh uh shop

and um it it

as as it was kind of going and it got

caught by a saw

and the saw kind of cut it and the snake

didn't realize what was happening

so it went to to bite to to yeah to bite

the saw

and it hurt itself even more so

the snake didn't know what was happening

so it started going around

the the saw in order to you know

suffocate it

thinking that saw is attacking it so it

was

you know protecting itself and finally

uh

snake died and and this kind of

translates into life

and it's so many times that we get angry

or upset

you know with some people thinking that

we want to hurt them because we feel

hurt but

finally we're hurting ourselves and and

it was is such a deep

message that i kind of like resonated

with really and i think that

kind of sums up my evolution in a way

and and and uh my growth uh

mentally of how you know i i should deal

with these particular circumstances and

in events that have been

quite uh significant uh

in my life and you know the wars and and

those times of

you know uh hardships were definitely

one of the most significant

uh times of my life in my career

where where i experienced uh what it

feels like to literally have

ten dollars in at home in the apartment

with

with uh you know for my father and my

mother with three children

to feed and uh having to wait in the

line to get piece of bread

for hours and uh and not being able to

travel around the world

to play tennis uh in tennis is

expensive sport absolutely and you know

you need

money to pay for the record for the

tennis balls for the coach for the

court so all these things you know and

and

they i think in the end of the day as i

said

it brings it brings light

and value to my life because

you know i think going through all of

that has

made me stronger but at the same time

made me more

grateful because i understand the both

extremes so to say because

today i really uh i enjoy

so much of you know

success in this you know society

and the sport and i can afford many

things and i'm really really grateful

for that and blessed

but i've been on the on the opposite

side so i think that

that storyline is is really something

that

enriches me absolutely man and your your

life story is such a beautiful message

to the world

it's a great message to the world like

it's it's incredible and i'm glad that

i see when from the way i view it you

you live it like a message too it's not

about you

that's that's how i feel when i'm with

you that it's not about you it's not

like i did this

it's actually a story and a message to

the world that you know

any child any person who is in such

abject conditions can actually transform

their lives so thank you for being there

thank you thank you and i i just feel

like you know the

the message i can share from my

experience and i don't want

ever for people to feel that i'm

preaching or anything like that i just

feel like my experience has helped me

to reach you know certain success if you

want to call it you know um

yeah in both professional and private

uh way uh is is that there is always

time for everything and and you know

i've i'm learning myself even today how

to be patient

how to how to you know coordinate

certain things in my life how to

create space for the biggest

uh quality time that i can have with

my priorities which are my family which

is my growth

and it's and it's a constant juggle and

you can't you can't i

i truly believe in balance but i don't

believe that we can

ever reach a stage and our point where

we can say i'm in balance

you you can be in balance but the next

moment you're not in balance because

that's life and everything is moving

and it's happening so um so that's

that's why i feel like and then through

tennis

i i've learned my you know biggest and

hardest lessons in life and i've

experienced those those emotions and for

me you know tennis court

is still a field

you know uh where where i have a chance

to grow

really and i i when i'm not on the

tennis court

i find it much easier to

accomplish certain things that that i

want to

on a daily basis but then tennis court i

use

as exactly that platform that challenges

me and challenges my ego

so i still have for example outburst on

the court i break a record i scream like

i i curse i know you don't curse at all

and i admire that

amazing that you you took that wow you

got to teach me how to do it

and uh and and and so when that happens

instantly i feel like oh my god why what

what did i do

you know and i have two children you

know

many children around the world are

watching and and

and you know seeing what you're doing

and

imitating you in a way so you're sending

that kind of message so i try always to

have that in back of my mind and you

know subconsciously like okay

you know try to do you know what you do

best but

do it with dignity do it with style do

it you know with always having

you know that kind of inner voice

telling you you know

there's you know thousands you know of

children around the world watching you

play right now

and and absorbing like a sponge every

move everything you say everything you

do

but it's i still do it i still go

through this outburst

and i i felt uh disappointed with myself

for a while

wow because of that i really felt like i

was betraying myself

i was not managing to uh

to do what i intended to do and uh and

and then i learned about surrender and

uh

and then i learned about there is a time

for everything in life

and uh there is a reason why we have to

take every step of the way in order to

reach the top

of in whatever way you you you feel that

top is

is for you and uh and i and then i

understood that

you know i have to accept i have to

embrace i have to channel it and

understand that

you know i still have to work and i have

to work all the way to the last day

that i that i breathe and and and and

i'm happy with that i i really feel like

i

i managed to take that positive leap

in that direction what's you've touched

on a few times then i want to dive into

it deeply you mentioned success reaching

the top

the world sees your success

the world sees your achievements but in

novak djokovic's eyes in your own eyes

what's been your greatest success your

greatest achievement

so far in your perspective it's a good

question

my greatest achievement is my open mind

i i feel that

with an open mind mindless

type of you know perspective and

approach to life

you help all the natural

processes in yourself

to flourish and to excel

and you're embracing the natural flow of

life where you have to evolve and you

have to develop and you have to learn

and i just if i have to define it that

kind of shortly i i would say it's it's

just

open mind because i feel

the ignorance and the close-mindedness

and and certain convictions that that

people have

uh are so strong that

you know you you go through throughout

your whole lifetime

without really allowing you know

yourself to

open up to the world and learn about

all these different cultures and things

that can enrich your life and make you

feel more fulfilled and live a more

fulfilled life

be more joyful have that inner peace

and emotional balance and stability that

we all strive to

and and i just feel with an open mind

you're just helping yourself

and you're able to receive uh kind of

filter

and then you know give at the same time

because

you know the taurus field everything has

to flow so that's how it flows but

if you don't have an open mind then

obviously

your everything closes up whether it's

health whether it's

you know profession whatever it is in

your life it just kind of feels

and i was there i i was there i don't

want people to think that i

i know it all or whatever i just feel

you know

also that i'm sharing the experiences

from my process because i was there as i

said i felt

you know resentment i felt you know

feeling of

revenge i felt hatred i did i felt all

of that

we all you know go through that we're

all human beings we you know kind of

you know experience those kind of

emotions but

i feel with training and repetition

and discipline that obviously sport has

taught me so well

you can really reach anything that you

truly want in desire in your life

and where did that open-mindedness start

like where did you start to notice that

the closed mind was

limiting you and the open mind was

expanding

i think very early to be honest

ever since i kind of

wished to play tennis right when i was

four or five years old

and tennis was never a sport in our

family

i think you know i kind of help also my

parents to

expand you know outside of their in a

way comfort zone and going to the sport

or field of life that is completely

unknown to them in a way

and i think that uh uh you know i i

started playing tennis with four and a

half i think five years old and

before that i was uh i was skiing a lot

and i i remember

even before i started to run i was

already with my dad

you know skiing he was carrying me and

going down the slopes and

and so the first sport for me was king

right and

until i was i think nine years old i

didn't really know whether i want to ski

or play tennis

i was football soccer a little bit there

but it was mostly about skiing or tennis

and uh and unfortunately i mean we've

been through all this and my father

my father asked me i remember i remember

that that day when he sat me down

with my mom and he said

i am ready to support anything that you

desire to do

in your life and i'm here for you

but you have to tell me if it's sport

okay and what sport and uh

and i said okay give me one thing i

needed to

you know and a big decision yeah i mean

and then you get an investment i was

thinking and then i said like

it didn't take me a long time i thought

i said maybe just a little time to think

but then

after half an hour i went to him and i

said it's tennis right

and he said okay tennis it is and and

then

i think us kind of getting into this

um uncomfortable unknown

zone or area or field of life has

allowed us to kind of expand all of us

and and also

having certain mentors and people that

have

greatly positively affected me

on many levels my wife mentioned my

tennis mother as i like to

call her um i've met her when i

was i think five six years old and then

i started training with

her tennis camp summer tennis camp that

was coming from

belgrade from capital city to coponic

this place in the mountains

and then when i was i think six seven

i also started having some private

lessons with her in belgrade while i was

you know going to school and she was

happy to

to to play with me because she felt like

i was very talented and then she told

she told my parents she said i really

feel like

you should try to give your best to

support this child to play tennis

because i've never seen a bigger talent

uh from than him from monica selish who

was uh

you know obviously the best tennis

player in the world and one of the best

female tennis players of all times

and she was her coach as well and

because monica was born in serbia and

then she went to

to live in states where she is today and

uh and of course my parents were like

well

if if such a experienced and

knowledgeable person about

the tennis says that then you know we

should try to

support our child so that's what

happened and

i remember i was watching you know

tennis practices and sessions on the

fence i was climbing i was really really

in love with the sport i was very

passionate about it

and she taught me uh about holistic

approach to life i think wow already

back then when i was seven eight

she really taught me how to you know

think about

the grades in the school the music that

i listen to

the mindfulness that i have the

observation the focus

the kindness the relationship with

people she was working

in in a team with my parents and my

parents

you know i'm really grateful for my

parents because they recognized the role

of a mentor

very early on so they they kind of

teamed up with her

and then you know i was learning a lot

from from from my parents

obviously and continued to learn and

from from my tennis mother so

that has helped me to i feel like

be open-minded and and and understand

but

i obviously went through my phases and

you know through through the process of

learning and

those dealing with those emotions

although i felt when i started

traveling by myself because i was

traveling with my father until i was i

think

16 and then 6 17 i started having my

coach and

and and i you know i didn't get too deep

in the conversations with my dad and

with my mom and i felt

there are some subjects and that

you know i want to talk about and

especially in

you know puberty and teenage years you

know you're experiencing so many changes

and and i was so much in tennis that i

didn't really have time for for

other maybe school activities that my

fellow friends and you know students

were going through

uh because i was so much in tennis and

and then i i started sharing so much

with with my coach

i think that i remember my dad was like

why don't you

share that with me and i was like

because i don't

i don't feel that i've first of all i've

never shared that

those particular subjects and types of

conversations with you and

i don't i don't feel we can we we can

resonate on that level and and we tried

but we

it never worked out so but he was

understanding and that i also have to

have you know people that

that are close to me and then influence

me on different levels

and and that's what i feel like helped

me a lot to uh to develop

wow and one of the things i noticed

about you is also and i'd love to get

your thoughts on this

i feel like it's tough to get to the top

but it seems to be even tougher to get

to the top have a slump or have a moment

of challenge and then try and get back

because you've experienced something and

it's like i know that you've even

credited your wife

with her dedication to self-care

and your work and what she's trained you

or shared with you in journaling

tell us about the bit about the process

that you've taken

to be at the top have challenges and

then still come back because everyone's

been quoting obviously having the

impossible comeback and

but you made it possible what was

happening mentally

spiritually for you not just physically

but what was happening mentally and

spiritually for you

well first of all to reflect on the

impossible word

in in the word you have i am possible

right

so i i truly i don't believe in and you

know

something is impossible i really really

everything is possible as we talked

about it earlier

uh my wife has been um

you know my girlfriend for a long time

ever since

i was 18 she was 19 that's that's when

we

started dating and uh she used to play

tennis

and that's how we met and we've known

each other four or five years before we

started dating

and you know through tennis and and then

she went to study in italy

in milan and i came at more or less the

same time here in monaco

to follow my my coach at the time and i

started using monaco as a base

and she came over milan is close to

monaco so she came over and that's how

it all started and when she finished

studies she was obviously

you know thinking she had a lot of

opportunities for her own career but she

sacrificed that in order to live my

career live my dream

in order to save the relationship in a

way so i'm very grateful for

for for her and what she has you know um

done for our relationship and for me

and i've i learned i keep on continue to

learn from her so much

she introduced me to yoga actually

back in uh back in the days when she was

uh studying

and she is a huge reader she likes to

read

everything and anything and she you know

likes to write as well and she was

being big on journaling all the time and

i remember when i was

quite young from my tennis mother and

from my parents i learned how to

kind of write and have specific things

that i want to share

on the paper i did it you know kind of

like what i'm grateful for and things

like that

which was nice but then i lost that i i

didn't do it for many

years and then she reminded me of that

so i i started doing it again

and and and it felt great because i felt

like i could

release a lot of things that were

tensing me up

through germany through writing exactly

right but also through yoga

you know she learned about it she

because she was so stressed

during her you know uh studies

um she spent the whole day obviously

starting with books and

you know student life isn't easy so she

was looking into ways how she can relax

herself

get more energy and you know she was she

was not drinking coffee or any of these

things

so she came into yoga and she was

sharing it with me so i started doing it

with her

you know the whole the breathing

pranayama

the you know the the sun salutations and

everything and and that's ever since

then we've been doing obviously some

form of yoga

you know try on a daily basis and and um

you know she she's been a very a

very significant integral part of of my

life and my

my evolution and what i'm really

grateful for

is that not only that we you know truly

love each other and we are very

transparent and honest

but also that we have help from the

universe to

actually be in a very similar state of

consciousness

in certain phases of our lives so we can

help each other

learn better and grow faster

in in certain areas with that we choose

that are

you know uh you know part of those

particular periods so yeah

so i think uh she would agree that

when we became parents uh four years ago

that has completely shifted our world

you know upside down up to that moment

we were also spiritual but

you know still quite basic comparing to

what has happened after that

and we truly believe that our kids are

our masters

and our teachers and then they come to

this life to

bring bring lessons for us

and bring help for us to understand

a lot of things about ourselves in the

deeper levels and what we have to work

on

which is is quite contrary to what you

know in a way

yeah society which is like we are

teaching them

which we are of course but you know

actually i've been i've been talking

with her a lot about that

and and now we we have a baby girl that

is one year old

and and she i was mentioning she's a

healer she really is and she brings that

kind of

energy to this world and she has

yeah i mean skyrocketed our

attention for the moments for you know

the consciousness the awareness about

everything i mean even more and we're

like oh my god

you know there's another level there's

another level so we you know we help

each other grow and i think we

it's it's i'm really grateful that i can

share with her

literally everything and anything that

i'm interested in

that i'm going through and you know she

she has been always the shoulder to to

lean on and she has always been there

and tough moments for me in my career

when i was you know going through an

injury recently

and i had to take six months break down

the tennis and

and then when i came back i was like

questioning whether i should

keep on playing on that level or not and

i was

just going through you know just going

through hard work inside and

and then she you know she was there and

she helped me to overcome all of that

uh of course with uh alongside with help

of uh

some uh uh life spiritual teachers that

i have that i can yeah a little bit

um well there are two guys in particular

uh jose pepe maz and and jar koilich

um jose pepe is from from spain and

jacques from uh from serbia and they i

consider them really as

as my spiritual and life teachers my

masters

that i've learned a lot from and back in

i think 2010 or 11 i've met

jarko so about seven eight years ago and

uh

i met him through my wife actually

because my wife had a friend that

knew him and and that's how we got into

it he's uh

he's a reiki healer uh but he's much

more than that

and you know he he helped a lot

both my wife and i to uh

again open our mind even more to

understand how

we can have internal conversations with

ourselves

because i i didn't know how to do it i

didn't know how to verbalize

my emotions and that's where my wife was

ahead of me and that's where we

struggled in our relationship because

she was trying to dig

things out for me and make me share more

but i wasn't

able to do that because i didn't know

how she's like

speak to me what do you feel i'm like

i don't know i feel something i just

don't and

and so i think jacques was was very

helpful in that

and uh and and sounds like everyone

needs that

everyone yeah i mean everyone needs that

of course but

i think you know there's this great

saying

you know when the when when the student

is ready the teacher will come

right yeah so i i felt that

the first initial step i needed to do i

needed to decide

in my mind internally that okay this is

exactly what i need for my heart for my

soul

for my for my growth this is the the

priority

i have to learn how to manage myself

my emotions how to not just to be a

better tennis player

but to be a better human being and um

and so

so then the teacher appeared obviously

and

and then after that obviously i i i

start to expand my

my awareness and and you know

observation of the world

and then i run into pepe who is very

close

person and and also a spiritual life

teacher to my brother

marco and they live in the same place

actually marco my brother went to live

in spain because of pepe

wow and pepe's whole philosophy of life

is love and peace and

and uh he brought that

kind of energy into our lives the perspe

perception of love and peace what it

really means

and at the beginning i i was actually uh

not really supportive i must say of my

brother because he started doing that

before me he started going through

this whole process of learning with with

pepe

and he moved to spain so he can be

closer to him because he felt

you know deep inside that something is

very important that he has to address

uh and i just i didn't get it at that

time i i thought well you know you have

to because he was playing professional

tennis i was like you can't really

you know just love and peace you know

you have to kind of like

go back and train and yeah this have

this mindset if you're loving peace on

the court the other guy will beat you

and this is what it comes down to you

know

in in sports and he was like listen i i

he's like i understand but

i trust me i have to go through this and

i just feel

that this is my growth and i did i

didn't understand it at the time and

then i

but i was attracted to pepe because i i

felt that his energy was amazing and

you can never get upset with him you

know you speak to him he's like you you

know

you he always smiles and everything you

know even when we have tough

conversations he always smiles and sends

because he always prays inside and sends

you love

yeah and for that he had to work and

still continues to work

i mean immensely and i didn't understand

what

he kept on emphasizing inner work inner

growth

inner work inner growth universal love i

really

i didn't really get it you know and then

and then then obviously uh uh this whole

energy

attracted my wife and i and and we

connected with pepe and with my brother

and

different levels and and today you know

obviously we understand

you know what what he truly what he

truly means

because we embraced that work yes and we

have to do it daily

yes and i just wanted to shortly reflect

on on that inner work

for the purpose or goal my goal for the

inner work

up to not while ago was tennis

wow and that and and i the the

feeling inside you can call it ego

whatever

has drawn me to that sensation of i

need to do this because that will help

me play better tennis

but it didn't resonate something i was

living a successful life but not

fulfilled

yes if you know what i mean yeah uh and

and there was something wrong with that

i i just felt i

i felt the answers of that truth and the

essence and what it really means

to to to do that on daily basis for

yourself

and your growth as a human being and not

just as a tennis player or a doctor or

whatever

but i it wasn't it was weaker comparing

to the other side which was

since i was seven i'm going i dreamed of

being number one of the world that's my

ambition that's my lifetime goal

i have to fulfill it when i fulfilled it

in 2011

i kept on going i just i want to be more

grand slam

i have war grand slam trophies i want to

be number one for as long as i can

it just kept going and i believe that

from my experience you need goals and

objectives

you know and it but you need to

balance that with you know

what is truly the most important work

which is the inner work

yes and and uh i didn't get it up to up

to not a while ago to be honest

and that's when i start to get it and

that's when i start to understand the

message from pepe

he was whatever you do you do it with

excitement with joy with passion

but at the same time never forget

about what you have to do before during

and

after that which is a much much bigger

work and longer work

and and not now now i do truly

understand that yeah give us give us

so for anyone who's listening and

they're like no like i'm like you i

don't get it yeah

yeah you know because so many people

today i feel like spirituality energy

all of these words are flying around the

internet people are talking about it but

there's so many people that don't get it

explain to us in your own way in the way

you see it

what is inner work and what inner work

you do

what you were saying that before that

during that after that has helped you

not just in tennis you've talked so

and reflected so wonderfully on this in

so many of your videos

about the habits about the addictions

that we have

the whole day passes by we're not we

don't

even remember a single moment in the day

because

we've just been distracted the whole

time so

you know if we are learned and trained

to be distracted that's how

you know our life is going to unfold

we're going to be distracted

but if we train ourselves to be present

and more aware then obviously we're

shifting the attention of the

subconscious and all the

internal external energies and nature

and everything into that

you know in a simplified way work on the

habits

right i i mean i have you know still

some habits that need working on

you know and and uh you know it you know

for example the phone right yeah that

that is so addictive and you get into

instagram that i by the way love i love

it

it's great fantastic uh it's how we

connect yeah

yeah but but if you let it

become your master then

that's how it's going to be and you're

going to be distracted you're going to

feel lack of energy

you're going to feel lack of inner peace

you're going to feel

upset you know you're going to have a

short breath

you know all these different things and

that reflects on relationships that

reflects on

you know your performance at your work

or whatever you're doing

and and for me i i try to okay

try to think inside okay what am i doing

right

on the tennis court how can i translate

that

and off the tennis court interesting and

the on tennis court

what i'm doing right is complete 100

focus and presence of mind and body and

everything

discipline working towards

objective organ organized

preparing myself this is a big thing i

feel you know

if you fail to prepare you prepare

yourself to fail right absolutely

so preparation is a huge thing i mean at

least

in in my world for tennis it has helped

me a lot

because i i don't want to put a number

on it but let's say

80 to a 90 of your the match that you

want for example or any success

before you stepped on the course exactly

yeah exactly

how you do your homework uh for you know

in in my instance

you know um obviously working on all my

strengths and weaknesses uh preparing

myself

physically mentally emotionally

spiritually

for the match that is coming up i have

the whole

uh short term and long term plan how can

i get

from from here to there in the shortest

time

those type of things and then

you know obviously doing your homework

on the guy on the opponent that you're

playing against

where you're going to play the stadium

the crowd the weather

you know it's it's really

whole homework that you have to do in

order before you get in and

and then you win a tennis match and then

it's not only about the tennis match

it's 89 of the work that you do

prior to that so that's why i believe

you know preparation

is a big big thing working on the habits

you know the science says that you need

20 what two or three days that you you

can you know shift

you know from bad habit to a healthy

habit so we need persistency we need

discipline

you know we need we need repetition and

bruce lipton that i

also like to listen to a lot he he was

talking about subconscious right and how

subconscious is controlling probably 90

95

of our everyday life so if we can

feed our subconscious with the

information that

is going to allow us to excel and to

live the life that we want to

then that's what's going to happen

because your subconscious doesn't know

what's

good for you or bad for you it just

knows what you tell it

yes and and there's the seeds that you

plant so

so he was talking about you know uh

there are two ways to kind of

hack your subconscious which is hypnosis

which happens from

you know up until you know you're seven

years old

and and then repetition so that's why i

mean

my wife and i are very passionate for

the preschool

education and early childhood

development until you're six or seven

years old that's when

it's most vast brain growth and that's

where you know

the the fundamentals and the foundation

of your life

is set and and that's where you know

bruce was talking about it really

beautifully and and

it made sense and and then after year

seven

it's repetition it's discipline okay

um i'm switching off all my phones

after a certain hour i'm you know doing

my praying work

uh because i believe in the invisible

world

science proves quantum science talks

about it

where most distance points are actually

one in in in a split second and

and we we all have proven that and so

you just need to really believe it in

order to achieve it

you know where your attention you know

where your attention goes the energy

flows

and and i think it all starts with open

mind and you have to i think with a

question

it's always so great to ask yourself

questions

who am i why i'm here what i want to do

what i want to become

what i wa you know just all these

questions put on the paper write it down

go through it you know in your mind

through that whatever your

method is but you just have to address

it

if you don't address it you're going to

go about the same things that you went

about and then you're going to get the

same outcome

that you don't desire so i feel like

that

kind of uh awareness about that uh

just helps you know helps learn

and you know i'm learning from you so

much on a daily basis as well because

you know i obviously follow your work

and and there's so many great messages

out there and i feel like

this is the time where we can expand our

consciousness and get closer to what

who we are because you know the the two

most important

and all this probably questions on this

planet ever since the existence of

humans is

you know who we are and why we are here

absolutely so

i think also the truth seeking um

element and part is also

quite important in that i mean i

consider myself a truth seeker i i like

to

you know try to dig even deeper and

deeper and deeper and understand

who we are you know why are we here is

this a planet is this a realm what is it

you know is this a matrix is it not you

know i

i think it's it's important to us ask

these questions and and get

and do your research and dig deep into

that because although

you know i i think it all comes down to

you know whether you are your

own master or or not

so i think if you are your own master

then it allows you

to take actions the way you want them

rather than

you know i love the gym quick that i

also like very much

and he he talks about

the thermostat and thermometer so

that don't be determines that but be the

terminator set your the temperature set

you you set this temperature of the room

and you set it up the way you wanted it

and thermostat if you set it

then you have to adjust so it's reactive

and i think it's such a such a great

wisdom yeah

great advice man i loved what you were

saying earlier that's that's great

advice and i hope everyone's listening

is

is taking notes but that what you said

earlier i loved you said that for a long

time you believed ego is the enemy

yes and then now you've started to

understand that actually the ego has to

be befriended yes and i thought i was

i i couldn't agree with you more i

couldn't agree with you more sometimes i

believe the ego is like

a perfect mirror to yourself in the self

that you don't want

but at least it starts teaching you the

ego can teach you so much if you're

aware of it so i want to hear your

perception on how you've been switching

between egos the enemy to actually

befriending the ego

well this is because you've got every

reason to have a big year like you've

got every reason and you're not you're

very humble person but you've got

every reason and i do have it and i do

have it and this is this is the point

i didn't understand it at the time and

we talked about it a little bit and

as you reflected i do have a big ego

but i have to embrace it and

and and learn how to befriend it and

deal with it in in a ways that

that i'm to work going to work and team

up with my ego rather than

i'm going to be an enemy of my ego

because then

again i'm reacting then ego can

you know persuade you and do different

things and and mask

you know certain things is so smart and

witty

and then you have to react and then you

have to just kind of like

try to try to handle and juggle so many

things

instead of hey let's team up you're

inside of me

i'm you you're me okay let's figure this

out

how can we work together and you kind of

have to

you know please it and at the same time

you have to control it

and even though i don't really like the

world word control

i still feel like you know

if you if you create your controlled

environment it's going to be

better off for you in your life yeah

i've got so what i what i finish off

with every interview is called my final

five so the five

the first five so these are fast five

questions yes they're you have to answer

so the first question i was going to

answer is uh what's the first thing that

you do every morning

first thing that i do every morning is

prayer

beautiful second question what do you

pray for first i express my gratitude

for for my body for myself

for the opportunity to continue my

evolution

as a multi-dimensional being

in this realm i am grateful for my

family i'm grateful for

being able to have my senses and to have

big bed and to have a most beautiful

sunrise every morning

it's amazing third how do you make sure

that your energy

is where you want it to be spiritually

internally

um continuing to work

on um the things that we we talked about

um so aside of the physical work and

tennis

uh and and duties as a father

and a husband i need to get in

daily something in my self-care

work whether it's only a meditation or

it's a two-minute

breathing prayer whatever it is

sometimes it's only that

because you don't have time but you know

it's important to just

kind of you know keep keep doing it and

be disciplined with it

what's the best advice you've ever

received

be open-minded

i love that theme that's the theme of

this the opening is just like a theme

for sure

it's when you're open-minded then you're

ready to receive

everything that we're surrounded with in

such a beautiful world and we're so

blessed

uh that we live in this world and that

we

go through the process of evolution and

i think when you come

close to the realization of you know who

you are

i think and you continue to seek for

that truth i

just it brings you closer to the source

from where you

arrived and just makes you makes you so

present and makes you so calm

and it makes you so joyful and grateful

for

yourself for people around you for

everything that you have

that you do that surrounds you that

fulfills you

i feel that that's the essence of our

life

amazing and the fifth question fifth and

final question is if your racket was a

magic wand

and you could get the whole world to

understand one thing what would you want

everyone to understand

that our consciousness expands

infinitely beautiful

straight to the point what do you mean

by that what do you want them to

understand for you

and i'm going to give you the

opportunity oh my gosh we don't have

enough time

[Laughter]

that our conscious expense infinitely

means

well at least in my own perception is

that

we are more than we think

or feel with our five senses than we

really are

and when you i feel like

when i came to this realization it just

opened the door to a whole different

universe and i mentioned to me

and i feel that my evolution and my

growth

in every aspect of who i am and my

everybody

has just quadrupled

for light years ahead i just feel i feel

calm at the same time but so excited

for everything that i that life has to

offer that i can learn

thank you novak we still have to do a

part two please dive into all of that

we're gonna have to make it happen yeah

thank you so much man i'm so grateful my

friend thank you for your time and

energy i know you've got so many things

on

your amazing wife i love you guys so

much man infinite love

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