Novak Djokovic REVEALS His Secret Mindset Shift That ENDS Self-Doubt...

Not having success is not an option. I

have to succeed. It's basically a matter

of existence, a survival of my family.

>> The world's number one male tennis

player. He's won 14 grand slams in a

glittering career. Novak Jookovic.

>> You've been through so many injuries,

losses. Always hurt himself. What has

NovakJovich done?

>> What goes through your mind when you

lose?

>> I just want to be left alone.

What has it taken to become NovakJovich?

>> It's a consistent practice. It's prayer

work mindfulness meditation conscious

breathing. It requires more

responsibility from you on a daily basis

to prepare yourself for the biggest

battle.

>> When did you first become aware of that

feeling of not being enough?

>> I kind of get emotional about it because

it's still deep inside of me.

>> Do you feel like in your career you've

achieved everything you set out to as a

tennis player? When you reach your 30,

you start counting your days to your

retirement. I'm 38 this year. How far

can I go? How long can I push my own

limits?

>> The number one health and wellness

podcast.

>> J Shetty.

>> J Shetty,

>> the one, the only J Shetty.

>> Hey everyone, welcome back to OnPurpose,

the number one health and wellness

podcast in the world. Thanks to each and

every one of you who come back every

week to listen, learn, and grow. Now,

this is an incredible statistic that I'm

sharing for the first time. Thanks to

you, we are now creating 500 million

views every month. Not every year, every

month. And I'm so grateful that you're

part of this community. Today, I get to

welcome back a guest who has been a big

part of making that possible for me. I'm

grateful to him. I'm indebted to him

because he believed in the mission of on

purpose even before many people did or

any people did. Before this podcast was

even out, he allowed me the gracious

kindness to go and interview him and

release as the second episode of all

time. Welcoming back to on purpose, I'm

so excited to have my friend, the

incredible human Novak Jovich. Novak,

>> thank you G. you are. I mean, do you

know what? I'm so grateful to have you

back and my heart is so full because you

were one of those rare people that had

seen one of my first ever videos. We'd

reached out, we'd connected, we were

talking a lot at the time. You were

going through a really fascinating place

in your career. You were recovering from

an injury, right?

>> It was a different mindset. You were

just on the cusp of becoming the

greatest of all time. and you took a

chance on me in so many ways and I'm I'm

eternally indebted and grateful to you

for that. So, thank you for coming on

then and coming back now.

>> Jay, thank you. It's a great pleasure to

see you again and to be able to talk to

you. Thank you for kind words in

introduction and as well reflecting on

our first conversation in 2019. I don't

think I took a chance because we talked

about it just before we started

officially recording. You know when you

are connected with yourself and with

your emotions and when you feel someone

deeply and you look in someone's eyes

and you understand instantly with your

instinct with your intuition or that

this person thinks good or thinks bad or

has the right intention has the heart at

the right place. So I could see that

from the first moment with you and

that's where I felt the connection and

even though we haven't seen each other

for a few years, you know, I'm just so

glad that we are able to connect now and

you led me through the list of all the

guests that you had in the last almost

300 episodes in the last 5 years and I I

couldn't be happier for you and for your

wife and for your entire team. Amazing.

>> A thank you man. And it's uh you gave me

my first Wimbledon experience. I got to

see you play on center court. It was

amazing. I mean, are you kidding me? It

was like and you crushed. You won

obviously. Uh but it was just such a

brilliant experience to see you play

after getting to understand your

psychology. And I think that's what I've

respected about you over time that

you've really worked hard on your

internal game as much as your external

game. And I think you're one of those

few rare athletes that have raised the

consciousness by working on your own

consciousness. So today I want to dive

deep into that and and I want to dive

right in. I wanted to start by asking

you like what has it taken to become

NovakJovich? Like what has it actually

taken to become you internally? You

know, you you mentioned that I took a

lot of the time and attention to

dedicate myself to the internal work and

you know, I've been blessed and really

lucky in a certain way to be surrounded

with certain people at the very early

stages of my career and my life that

have directed me into this direction of

self-care, of holistic approach, of

multidisipline iplinary approach to the

preparation to the prevention to the

recovery both physical mental emotional

and at that time because I was so young

I didn't understand that and and it

didn't need to be explained to me in

depth at that point I trusted you know

my tennis mother as I like to call her

she passed away 13 years ago but she was

the one that really introduced this

holistic concept to me you know we were

I was going you know obviously to school

and then I was only 9 years old and 910

and I was training with her maybe two or

three times a week individually tennis

and then I would have group sessions and

my parents were you know were trusting

her enough to allow her to participate

directly into my upbringing basically.

So she also educated me off the tennis

court as well. So she took me very often

uh at least two times per week to her

house where we would look at the tapes

of all the greats both male and female

tennis players. That's where my

impersonation started. You know people,

you know, still to this day ask me, you

know, when are you going to do the

imitations impersonations? And you know,

I haven't done it. I've done it early in

my career and it was fun. It was viral

and people liked it. And then I received

a little bit of an evil looks in the

locker room and I kind of felt like, you

know, maybe I'm stepping over the line.

inside. That's why I stopped. But that's

where it started. And I was like, I was

really trying to adapt all of the great

things that I could see. And I have a

kind of a photogenic memory. And I'm a

very visual person. And that was

something that was kind of expected that

is kind of common as well, what you do

with kids, you know, or or with young

athletes, right? You watch videotapes,

you try to analyze, you try to talk. But

then she had me listen to classical

music. And she said it's very important

that you do that almost on a daily

basis. Listen to classical music while

you are writing your journal while you

are you know preparing for bed or any

time of the day but particularly those

times and you know I liked it. I didn't

understand the purpose of it but you

know I liked it. And so we would look at

the tapes and we would listen to this

music and then we would read poetry and

then we would do a visualization

practice. At that time she it was not

presented to me as such but she would

just say in a very simple way that would

be understood by a a boy a 10-year-old

boy just close your eyes and think about

how you want to play tennis and think

about when you're your happiest. And so

it started at a very early age and I'm

so eternally grateful to her for

instilling this in me and teaching me

you know how to see life basically and

understand that tennis is not as an

individual sport of course is also

different because you don't have anyone

to replace you if something goes bad you

know during the match you have to figure

out the way so I think it requires more

responsibility from you on a daily basis

to prepare yourself for a biggest battle

internally and also externally of course

with your opponent and with everything

that is happening around. But you know

so it taught me to really understand

that tennis is not only about hitting a

tennis ball over the net and counting

score and dreaming about this

achievements and winning Wimbledon as

our holy grail of tennis. But it's it's

more than that. And and I can use tennis

as a platform to evolve into a better

human being. At that point, I didn't

understand that. But then as I was

growing older and becoming more mature,

I I started to understand the importance

of doing all of these practices and I

started to expand on each of these

topics that that I was going through

with her. And then, you know, I started

going into yoga. I started going into

the movement into Christianity or to a

Christian. I'm very proud of my

religion. But at the same time, I am

very open to you know embrace anything

that can teach me you know from other

religions and from the spirituality as a

whole. So I'm very curious by nature. So

I was really always looking for new ways

to improve myself and improve my life on

this planet, you know, and I was very

lucky to be basically have that space

also from my parents. It's a kind of a

self-discovery through the self-care

through tennis really consumed most of

my life. Um I mean still does not to

that extent of course I mean I have two

kids I have family and other businesses

and other things that interests me. So

I'm you know I'm balancing right now

between tennis and the other stuff and

I'm kind of making that transition

slowly. you know, I still play

professional tennis and I still

experience my worst self on the court

and my best self. And so going back to

your comment at the beginning where you

said, you know, you're one of the the

athletes that really have immersed

himself into the spirituality into

understanding the holistic approach and

so forth and and the mental health. I

would say yes. But I'm still surprising

and shocking myself on how much I

actually need to still work on that and

I still quote unquote don't know enough

about that world and it was really hard

for me to accept that you know I thought

you know since 10 I basically started

working on that and and growing the

foundation but it has evolved and has

transformed so much for me in terms of

how I see myself how I see the world and

I thought, you know, maybe when I was at

at the peak of my career and, you know,

I felt like I'm unbeatable and I I feel

like I could do anything, you know, I

kind of walking on the water. We all

experience that in in in our own lives

in certain way and it's a great feeling,

but then the ego takes you places where

it's it's hard to come back from. And

maybe you shouldn't come back from that.

Maybe you're trying to find a balance,

find the optimal measure that really

works for you. But it it took me time to

really accept the fact that what I have

learned, what I have mastered, and what

I'm doing on a daily basis for the last

20 years or more is not necessarily a

guarantee that I'll always find a way

and that will always work for me in this

particular time of my life and

circumstances that I'm facing. So that's

a huge revelation for me because and I'm

still trying to get a grasp on it and

and understand all of these factors that

are in play that are challenging me on a

daily basis. And when I talk from this

perspective, it's a beautiful journey

that I'm trying to embrace. But when

you're immersed in the dark moment, it's

it's kind of hard to to really get out

of that.

>> Yeah. No, I I love what you're saying

because uh in the Gita, the ancient text

of India, it's spoken on a battlefield

and the idea is that you're always on a

battlefield. And as you said, on the

battlefield, you see the best of

yourself and the worst of yourself. And

often people said that to me when I

moved to LA, everyone's like, why do you

want to be in LA? There's so much

materialism. There's so much,

>> you know, illusion here. And I said,

well, actually, I feel like I'm on the

battlefield here. So, I see the best of

myself and I see the worst of myself.

And the worst of myself reminds me to

keep going and to keep working on

myself. And the best of myself allows me

to share my message with the biggest

megaphone in the world. And so it's that

dichotomy of actually when you're

looking for spiritual growth, you want

to be in a place that reminds you of

your weaknesses as much as your

strength. Because if you are only

reminded of your strength, you just have

your ego. And if you were only reminded

of your weaknesses, well then you would

be depressed or disheartened. I can

instantly see the mistake when I

actually say it's my coach's fault or

it's my physio's fault or my fitness

coach's fault or it's whoever's fault

for me losing a match or me playing this

way. So I always remind myself, hey,

take the responsibility in your hands.

Take the means in your hands. You are in

control of your life. I really would

love my my children to to be able to be

okay with being bored because that's the

time when you're actually most creative

or that's the time when you can manage

your thoughts and everything that you

have been suppressing by distracting

yourself with phone with whatever it is

you cannot convince me that there is a

single person in this planet even the

monk in Tibet that is meditating 24/7 or

an Orthodox Christian priest in a holy

island in Greece that is 24/7 praying

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Do you feel like in your career you've

achieved everything you set out to as a

tennis player?

>> Uh, yes. And more than that, and at the

same time, I still want to do more. And

I know that that comes in a big part

from a good place. Meaning from a place

of purpose, inspiration, motivation,

love for the sport, passion for the

sport, passion to make people happy when

they watch me. If I'm doing that, and I

I have a feeling that I am by still

actively being on the tennis tour and

having my tennis career, active tennis

career, I'm still spreading that light

by playing tennis and inspiring younger

generations. That's something that that

comes from a good heart, a good place.

But what comes from maybe a uh I would

say not necessarily a bad place but less

of a good place. I have identified that

as well is my feeling of not being

enough.

And that goes back to my very very

beginning of my life and my relationship

particularly with my father and not

being not doing enough, not being good

enough. uh etc etc. So you so now that

I'm talking about I I kind of get

emotional about it because it's still

deep inside of me and it's kind of the

battle that I that I also go through

often because a lot of people even

closest people in my life ask me you

know what more do you want you know you

have achieved everything

what do you want what why why do you

keep going and I tell them the the good

part that I told you that I still really

strongly feel it's inside of me that and

I feel like as long as I have the

capacity or ability to compete for the

biggest titles in in my sport. I want to

keep going. And also partly the part

that I didn't mention that inspires me

to keep going is to test my limits

mentally and physically cuz when I was

starting to break through into

professional tennis,

I remember when you reach your 30, you

start counting your days to your

retirement. like after 30 you know

that's it pretty much even though there

was some exceptions like Jimmy Connor is

the legend of our game he played I think

semi-finals or finals of of US Open when

he was 40 and you know still still you

know dominating the tour so there were

very but very few exceptions nowadays

it's different why because I think the

care for the body has improved so much I

mean now not only top 10 or 15 guys or

girls on the tour have like multiple

people in their squad to take care of

them. You have top 50 people that are

taking care of them. It's due to the

improvement of course of the conditions

for the players and you know we earn

more across the board. So it gives you

it allows you to hire more people that

would take care of your body. And I

think that it's also a a kind of a a

curiosity from my side. How how far can

I go? you know, I'm I'm 38 this year.

You know, how long can I push my own

limits? And I don't feel like I do have

limits. And I feel like the limits are

normally constructs in our mind. I've

seen the episode you did with Brian

Johnson the other day and then he talked

about you know he's

>> by a lot of people's opinion very

extreme but you know he dedicated his

own entire life to getting the data and

understanding what are the best

conditions for the longest living life

that he can have for himself which I

think it's something that is admirable

and you know I give him huge credit for

that and it I understand because as a

professional athlete, you know, the care

for your body and your mind and the

devotion to the daily habits is so tough

because when you want to change a

certain habit, science says it takes at

least 21 days, right, for the brain to

start growing, you know, new neurons

that are reprogramming.

But if you don't have the right

environment, that's going to be very,

very challenging. So that was also one

of the things that I wanted to reflect

on in your question is the environment

is the one that can be very stimulative

to you. It can be really supportive or

it can be pulling you down. So it's

super important even though we we always

encourage ourselves to be independent in

terms of what we do, what we eat, how we

sleep, how you know how we lead our

lives and what we do and how we can live

the best version of our lives possible.

But at the same time, we are social

beings.

>> We are very tribal beings. And even if

it's the smallest community, we still

want to belong to that community. We

still want this community to support us.

Even if it's one person or two, but it's

super important in the end of the day

because, you know, making tough choices.

These are tough choices because society

when you go out there, you know,

supermajority of the places where you go

to eat or people that you see, it's a

kind of a vicious cycle and they lead

their life in a certain way that maybe

doesn't coincide or correspond to your

choices that you want to make the new

choices or maybe the new changes. So

it's really hard, you know what I mean?

Living in the in the big city and

deciding you want to go through

transformational journey on a daily

basis where being exposed to to

something that is contrary to what

you're trying to achieve.

>> I feel like it's it's reinventing

yourself constantly. You know, for me,

I've had this kind of upbringing, had a

great foundation, and you know, I've

achieved incredible things. I was

dreaming of becoming number one in the

world and becoming a Wimbledon champion.

And that was my dream. I achieved that

dream within two days. I won Wimbledon

and at the same same day became number

one in the world in 2011 in front of my

family, in front of president of Serbia

who was there. I mean it was with a

welcoming of hundreds of thousands of

people on the way back. It's just you

know once in a lifetime type of

experience and when you do something for

the first time obviously that big it's

just like you're you're flying to the

moon. I mean you're not you it's a kind

of an old out of body experience but

then I I felt like I had to set new

goals and cuz I was you know at the at

the time 2011 I was 23 years old 24 so

okay what do I do next you know I feel

like I'm at you know peak of my powers

and I want to so so then I want to win

multiple slams then I want to win all

slams at once then I want to win gold

medal for my country then I want to make

history and so forth so forth so I think

goal oriented mind particular

particularly in sports but I also in

business or anything really I think is

super important because the clarity in

from my experience is something that is

essential to have also peace of mind and

to have a calm heart that you know what

you're doing and that you set your goals

your short-term goals your long-term

goals and you know exactly the strategy

that you need to implement to achieve

them and you surround yourself with the

people who are supporting you but also

people who are telling you what you

don't want to hear, you know, giving you

constructive criticism or maybe giving

you non-constructive criticism and then

putting you very down. But that's also

part of the journey. It's also learning

how to get up

>> like a phoenix and rise and and and try

to develop a thick skin, so to say. So,

it's it's a constant process really. I I

don't see myself fully satisfied if if

that's maybe a shorter answer because I

have that part of me which is like uh

you know I think I can still do more but

I'm the other side of me is like of

course I'm fully I'm happy and I'm proud

and in a way I can't wait one day for me

to reflect on everything but while I'm

still in my active career I don't have

time. Tennis has a longest season of all

sports. January starts January, ends

almost end of November. And of course, I

earn my right in a way to be selective

with tournaments where I play. So that's

what I'm doing. I'm not playing as much.

I'm focusing on the big ones. And I'm

trying to incorporate all of these other

things inside of my career and basically

expand the platform and use my voice for

other things than just the tennis court.

And I'm, you know, super blessed to be

in a position that I am, but as I said,

it's a constant journey and process.

>> Yeah, I really appreciate you being

honest about your experience with your

father because I think that pretty much

anyone who goes off to do something

successful externally,

all of us and everyone was channeling

some sort of internal inadequacy or an

internal feeling of not being enough. as

you said and I wanted to ask when did

you first become aware of that that you

had that feeling of not being enough

>> right

>> and how have you helped that evolve in a

in the healthiest way possible what has

been that journey of almost having to

live with it because it's there but not

letting it be your guiding light well

you're right it makes sense because I

think if you use it as the right fuel it

can actually serve as a great motivating

factor right it can it can push you. It

can, you know, stimulate you to extract

the the most amount of necessary energy

uh on a daily basis to achieve your

goals and to basically live your dream.

I think for me it started really as

something that was inevitable as a part

of the environment that I was in. I

touched upon that a little bit in our

conversation five, six years ago. My

upbringing with several wars and

sanctions and embargo and poverty and

everything. So you know from a very

young age I was basically forced to

mature very quickly because I'm a I'm a

oldest of the three brothers. I have two

younger brothers. So as an oldest son to

my father, I was basically kind of in a

position where I had to be informed very

early on, particularly the age of 11, 12

when when we had that bombing and the

war and sanctions that state that we are

in as a family or as people of of my

country, the situation, the

circumstances, my father had to bring it

forward to me in a very clear and mature

way. So, you know, one of the most

impactful moments of my upbringing and

my childhood is when he brought 10

Deutsch marks, and I've said this story

many times, which is equivalent to $10,

and he said, "This is all we got for our

family of five as living in a super

small apartment." That's where it hit

me. It was like, "Okay, now I have to

take the means in my hands as a

12-year-old boy in whatever way I can.

At least what I can do is support my

mother." maybe from some of the the

burden that she has during the day of

taking care of my younger brothers and

that's where it also hit me that not

having success is not an option like I

have to succeed it's basically a matter

of existence a survival of my family

so I think it started there and then

over the years it has obviously

transformed or evolved into different

kind of form

but I I think that and also my

relationship with my father often times

because of maybe lack of patience of my

father or of people around because

everyone saw that I have a talent. I was

coming from Serbia that had no tennis

tradition, no tennis culture. We are a

nation of a team sports. Uh we are

definitely a sporting nation. We love

sports but team sports. And at that

point during ' 90s it was about

survival. People were watching sports

but there was not much support for the

sports. It was particularly not tennis a

very expensive sport at the time. I

chose the most difficult sport for my

parents in most difficult time for our

nation and for my family. So often times

I wouldn't travel because we didn't have

money and then you know obviously as you

can imagine tennis federation didn't

have you know money to support me. So my

father had to go and beg and then he was

also borrowing money from

unfortunately even some criminals at the

time during '90s and then they would you

know they would tell him it's funny

story right now but at the time it

wasn't funny particularly for him but

you know he would go and he said first

time I was going to go to United States

to play I was 15 years old I was going

to play like big junior events here like

Prince Cup and Orange Ball there are the

biggest ones under 16 and under 18 and

also So more importantly, I was I was

going with my father hopefully to get

the sponsorship or, you know, get

recruited by one of the big agencies,

IMGs or or whatever. So he went for ask

for money because we didn't have so he

went to ask for $5,000 and so this

criminal people that you could borrow

money from because banks obviously would

not give it to you. And then they said,

you know, he asked him, you know, are

you how much are you in rush? And he's

like, "Listen, I'm asking this money

from you because of my son. He's playing

tennis. We're going in America. You

know, I'll return this money within

whatever they agreed on, one or two

months, whatever it is, 3 months." He

says interest rate was 15%. But because

you are in rush, it's 25. So my father

was like, "Okay, you know, I'll take it

cuz I have no other option." So, and I

can only imagine the stress that he was

going through and trying to turn this

money where people were really car

chasing him, shootings in our capital

town, stuff that my father went through,

you know, to to really not only survive

himself, but to actually allow all of us

to live and protect us and to allow me

to live my dream and to play the most

expensive sport at the time for my

country is something that I'm eternally

indeed. I cannot there's no money or

there's nothing that can

>> return the favor so to say. So of course

my father is always

>> my my hero for that and my champion but

you know feeling of not enough because

of that stress and what things that he

was going through and then it was hard

because he was giving me also hard time

if I wouldn't play well and it's like

and then I I understood but at the same

time I was afraid. I knew what I have to

do but you know it's hard for me to

deliver it when you need it's like okay

you need to win no matter what type of

situation. He wasn't telling me that but

that's how it felt

>> and that felt like that for years.

>> So that's why I say that the success

that I have achieved is not only due to

my father or my parents or myself it's

also the divine higher force. I strongly

believe that there was an intervention

and there still is. There's higher

forces in power that were helping me in

some of the most difficult moments in my

family as well. I am a man of faith and

I really truly believe in God and the

higher spiritual force that intervenes

in the most difficult moments if you

open your heart, if you pray and if you

believe in it. So I felt it on my own

skin. Jay, to be honest, I really don't

know how I won certain matches. I cannot

explain it. Even with my team after I

would finish a grand slam final against

Roger Feather in 2019, Wimbledon when he

was a far better player, I saved some

match points and I came off the court,

all stats were going his way. I won the

match and I just said, you know, and I

wasn't playing well. I wasn't feeling

well on the court and I was just like

struggling and scrambling and trying to

stay out there, stay alive. And I won in

the end in one of the most epic finals

in history of tennis. And then, you

know, I told to my parents and my family

and my my team, I said, and my wife, I

said, I don't know how I won this match.

I have no idea. At the same time, I do

know deep inside that there there's that

connection happening and that that

there's also that help. So there there's

a mix of things. It's really hard to

explain. Sometimes there's this divine

power that really if you allow it, if

you believe it, that really helps you

come out of of a trouble and and achieve

things.

>> What has been your

point of connection or practice with

that higher power that keeps you

connected? What's been that for you?

There's so many different traditions and

different methods. What's been the

method for you that you find especially

in those moments that you're able to tap

in? Because I find that if you're able

to tap in in really difficult times, it

means you're doing something in good

times because it doesn't just suddenly

turn on when you need it. So, what what

has been your particular practice,

method, uh system or theory that's kept

you connect?

>> You hit the nail with that one. It's a

consistent practice. So it's prayer

work mindfulness meditation conscious

breathing,

visualization,

presence, basically many other things as

well that that just NLP or you know

there's a lot of different techniques

that I have been practicing

and triing always with myself before I

would recommend it to someone else. And

over the years, I've developed my own

formula that changes

dependent on the feeling, dependent on

whether I'm on the court, whether I'm at

home, whe practice, whatever it is that

I'm doing. But I try to do it when, you

know, nobody's watching. And sometimes I

verbalize things, sometimes I don't.

Sometimes I write things down, sometimes

I just internalize. It just depends. But

I think most importantly in the end is

that you're doing something. Mhm.

>> I'm actually reading this book uh one of

the books that I'm reading currently is,

you know, the power of surrendering and

letting go.

>> Mhm.

>> It is an amazing book for me at at the

moment because because of my upbringing

and because of my character and because

of my life story, hard for me to let go.

It's hard for me to surrender

unless it's to the higher power. But I'm

still working on how to surrender and

let go of certain things in relationship

with close ones or my relationship with

the tennis or you know if I lose a match

or tournament if I go through a crisis

period and you know how to not hold

something that that pulls me down or

regret or you know it's it's a constant

work but I I I feel like if you devote

the time on a daily basis whatever works

for you you had some of the most amazing

uh guests on your show that talked about

from neuroscientists to doctors,

nutritionists and talked about the

healthy habits. So I I don't want to be

talking as them as I'm not an expert.

But in my fields or so to say in my own

life and experience, I feel like I'm an

expert because I have tried and

developed so many different things over

the last 30 years and and I know what

works and what doesn't in a way. But

going back to the very beginning

organization, it's not again a guarantee

that it will keep on working for the

rest of my life. But I know what will is

my dedicated time in a day to this

practice.

>> Mental practice, physical practice, of

course, activity practice that I'm doing

in the gym outside and tennis court or

when I'm not training, I still do stuff.

I still do some yoga practice. I still

do stretching. I still do breathing. I

still I love the chiong and the Chinese

traditional medicine or Chinese

tradition practices. I think they're

super good and important that you can do

even in your chair. There's always

there's ways and it's incredible

nowadays an internet and I mean there's

access to incredible things. All it

takes is a willpower to do it and a

desire to say okay I'm consciously

making this decision to change my life

for better and I'm going to start with

small steps. Super important. It's hard.

You have so much judgment in this

society in this world right? It's it's

really hard for people as as we talked

about the environment as much as effort

you're putting in and then you come with

your friends or or whatever with your

family members and then they start to

judge you because you're starting to act

weird because you're not normal. You're

not conforming to the norms of the

society whatever they are because it's

quite relative. You know we all

different but you know the norms of

society are not really healthy ones

otherwise we wouldn't be where we are as

a world ecosystem as a whole you know as

people and what we are doing to our

planet etc. there's a lot of uh

awakening happening and it's great to

see that change but it's not easy for

people and I understand that and it's

okay not to feel okay we heard that many

times as well and sometimes as I said

accepting and embracing for me and

letting go of the fact that I cannot

find a solution to something that

happens in my brain in my mind is also

fine

>> of being in a dark place for as long as

it requires is also a humane thing it's

also part of our life. I can see there's

also a narrative that I don't really

necessarily like or support in our let's

say wellness mindfulness space

well-being space where it's presented by

certain people in such way that you can

only think positive thoughts

>> and there's no room for negative

thoughts

>> that you know every picture or video

they post online is smiling it's great

life and so forth I mean that's not

possible right I

You cannot convince me that there is a

single person in this planet, even the

monk in Tibet that is meditating 24/7 or

an Orthodox Christian priest in a holy

island in Greece that is 24/7 praying,

you know, peace isolated in the cave

that is not experiencing some negative

thoughts. Mhm.

>> And I always go back to what one uh one

of my friends told me that I he's also

um mental coach and I worked with him

for years and one of his teachers is Zen

Buddhism teachers and he goes to the

temple in France often to his teacher

and he asked him in one of the first

times that he was there uh doing

retreats and spending time at the

temple. He says, "How are you so calm?

you know, how is it that nothing really

rivals you or unsettles you? Like you're

always so serene.

Uh you don't have any negative thoughts.

And he said the answer from the teacher

is that he says it's not true. He says I

probably have more negative thoughts and

more challenging thoughts and emotions

than you have. The difference between

you and me is my training and my ability

to not stay in that state and in that

emotion for a long time.

>> Mhm.

>> So I stay in it for seconds

>> and you stay in it for who knows.

>> Yeah.

>> Right.

>> So I I I think there's true wisdom in

that and it's all about practice

everything. I mean brain is a muscle

like any other even consciousness that

comes naturally to us. I mean we are

conscious spiritual beings. We are souls

on this planet in this body. But in

order for us to connect with our true

self, we need to go through these

layers, the constructs of the society

that has developed us in a way has

shaped us. And that requires practice on

a daily basis. And that's not easy.

Look, it's it's not easy not switching

on your phone or your TV the first thing

in the morning, but doing something that

is maybe not as healthy, but being

devoted to that practice or, you know,

during the day having that little one,

two, 5, 10, 20 minute rest time and

comprehension time. It's not easy to do

that, especially for people that didn't

develop that kind of habit. It doesn't

come naturally. I mean my even though I

don't like giving advice as we talked

about it but I like to share something

that works as a suggestion something

that works extremely well for me and

then and this is crazy that even in the

21st century we are even talking about

this as a hack it should be like an

everyday thing that it's a natural most

natural thing is to spend time in nature

>> listen to the birds chirping listen to

the wind feel the wind feel the I mean

if you're by seaside or oceanside walk

by the water or any water or pond or

lake or just be without the phone and in

nature, let the nature do its job and

heal you. And there's so much more power

to that than we actually think.

>> And and I felt like in the in the

darkest moments when I really don't want

to do any of these techniques or any of

the time indoors, I just go out and I

just I just go out and preferably walk

uphill. Mhm.

>> Because I feel like when you walk

uphill, your heart rate raises obviously

and because of that effort, you're even

more present.

>> So even less time for your thoughts to

consume you. So you're like fully

present. And then when you get to a

certain point high at the top, you feel

good about yourself because you've done

something. You're in the nature. You're

dedicated time to yourself. So I feel

like that's super powerful and it's

often times very underestimated. The

reason why I love hearing about your

practice is just because I think

>> I think an athletes mind is one of the

most unique places on earth because when

you're dealing with extremes every day

>> and every week and both extremes of

being number one and then losing a game

and you know everything that goes on the

toolkit you have is one of the most

versatile toolkits and and that's why I

asked that question was just to

understand what you do. I was going to

ask you like I feel like one of the most

challenging things and you probably

remember this when you are the new kid

on the block and you're playing all the

legends and today you're the legend and

you're playing the new kids on the block

and it must be such a fascinating

experience to go through and when you're

talking about the power of letting go

and the power of surrender

>> I wanted you to talk to us about that

like what did it feel like when you were

the new kid on the block and you were

playing your legends that you looked up

to and now you're the legend you're the

goat you're the number one playing the

new kids on the block. Like what does

that mentally look like?

>> It's a completely different feeling

obviously and different perspective. I

mean when you're a teenager coming up

and then you know you you're in a

dreamland when you are just sharing a

locker room with the legends of the game

or the guys that you look up to your

biggest rivals. They're becoming your

biggest rivals later on but at that

point they're heroes. They're like my

gosh. I mean, these guys, I've seen them

on the TV, and now I'm

>> Who is that?

>> I mean, look, my my uh idol growing up

was Pete Sampress. And even though Pete

Pete's game and my game are quite

different, I don't know, I loved his

demeanor. I loved his ability to cope

with the pressure and how he was coming

up with the best tennis when it mattered

the most. And that was a kind of a sign

of a greatest champion. I mean he was

holding a record for most slams and and

and weeks number one etc for a long time

until Roger came and Rafa of course and

then of course paved the way and then

you know looking up to them as well.

Even Nadal is only a year older than me

but he made a breakthrough earlier than

I did. it's already for a couple of

years he was on the tour when I started

coming in and he was already number two

in the world multiple slam winner and

etc. So, of course, it was kind of a

surreal experience for me and I tried to

enjoy it and embrace it, but at the same

time,

I felt like, okay, it's great to share

the court with these guys, but I want to

beat them, you know, I want to get the

biggest titles. I want to be number one.

I want to dominate. So I think that the

first kind of that wave that I was

riding on helped me to win my first slam

when I was 19 in uh Australia Australian

Open in 2008. And then I I won a couple

of big tournaments and so forth. I

reached number two in the world, but you

know, I still wasn't number one. And

then I I had a three-year period. I

didn't win a slam. I was winning some

big tournaments, but I couldn't win a

slam. These two guys were beating me in

every big match, Feather and Adal. I

changed rackets, you know, team members.

I I did everything I can to kind of find

the the right formula.

And I was struggling physically as well.

I wasn't, you know, that's where

actually I had my transformative journey

nutrition-wise where I took out the

gluten and dairy products and refined

sugar. Up to that point, I was eating

all of the these things thinking, well,

I'm I'm eating relatively healthy. I

mean, relatively healthy. I thought, you

know, that's what I know. But then, you

know, when I started working with this

with this doctor and he he pointed out,

you know, you have strong gluten

intolerance. It messes up with your gut.

Got to take that out. You got to take

out the dairy product because that

creates a lot of inflammation in your

body. You might be able to eat it later

on, but not now. And refined sugar.

Absolutely. No. So, that was a huge

change, but I committed to it. And then

I felt that affected me. In fact, my

mental clarity, my recovery was much

better, my decision- making on the court

was better, etc. So, that helped a lot.

And of course, mentally as well, I was

working on certain programs that I had

from, you know, that were kind of not

really very positive and not not really

serving the purpose on the court of

winning a match. So that year in 2010

2011 is when I experienced a huge boost

of energy and transformation and that

change an unbeaten run of 40 plus

matches and had three slams and became

number one and had one of best season of

my life and that's where I everything

started going in the in the upwards

direction for me and learning also from

these guys and the matches that we've

played against each other was something

that was extremely important for me at

that time I was of course trying to

consume as much as I can this energy of

the center court and everything and it

was overwhelming at times but I was also

very thorough in my analysis of the

matches afterwards even though I don't

necessarily

like to watch matches that I lost but

you know Kobe Bryant used to talk about

this a lot and I when I was talking to

him personally about that he would

because I tell him Kobe I really don't

like, you know, watching myself perform

bad or when I lost and it just gives me

this cramps in my stomach and I don't

like it. And he said even if it's just

specific intervals of the match that you

lost that you want to watch that you

definitely look at that and you need to

analyze that and you need to go through

that cramping feeling because that's

where you learn from those those

mistakes and that's where you have an

opportunity to rectify that for the next

next tournament or next match and so

forth. So that helped a lot. And I do

watch the matches that I lost and

highlights and certain parts, but I

never watch the last point. I don't want

to watch the point where my opponent,

you know, fist bumps and raises his

hands. I just maybe it's I don't know.

It's a superstition or not, but but it's

just some some kind of a feeling that I

have. But yeah, I just, you know, those

rivalries really shaped me into the

person I am, into the player that I am,

and definitely grateful for for

everything that I experienced with these

guys.

>> And now the flip, now when you're

playing the younger players. Well, well,

now the flip is obviously an interesting

experience for me because uh when

Feather and Nadal and Murray, my biggest

rivals, retired actually most recently

uh in the in the last year or two, part

of me left with them and I and I really

feel that because and I I thought, well,

it's not going to be difficult for me to

kind of shift my attention in terms of

who are my principal rivals on the tour

from them to someone else. But, you

know, it is it is tough because, you

know, I'm used to these names, these

guys, these faces for 20 years and then

new faces come in and and it's normal uh

how can I say evolution of our sport and

it's normal that you have new

generations that are kind of come in and

dominate the tour. I'm experiencing

something I have never experienced

before, but that's that's also fine. you

know, I'm trying to embrace this journey

and but also I think what is very

important to me personally and and what

I have expressed directly to all of my

basically rivals currently today, the

young guys who are going to be the

carriers of the tennis for the next

decade is that I'm here for them to

share my experience even though it's

difficult because we're facing each

But I still feel that in a way that's

also my role. It's also my

responsibility and it's also a great

opportunity for me to do that because I

it really fills my heart with joy that

I'm able to convey my experiences, my

knowledge, whatever that I can from my

journey to a new generations because

naturally the tennis should get better

and we all want tennis to get better to

be better and I want somebody to break

my record in the future or all of the

records. Why not? I mean this is how it

should be. if I can contribute in in a

in a way where I can say hey aside of

the the barriers that we created in a

rivalry if you need help with I don't

know public relations if it's you know

marketing if it's dealing with the

outside world as well that is very

difficult dealing with anxiety we all

have that you know we all know how it is

to feel alone you let yourself down or

you let other people down mental

challenges in a high level professional

support are 100% present with everyone.

It's just a matter of how you deal with

it, who you have in your support system

that can help you. So, I feel like it it

was great when I was able as a kid to

ask some of the the the guys who were

playing at the top level, you know, some

of the questions that were interesting

me and that just hearing from them two

or three sentences of how they think

that they were dealing with it and how

that affected them was huge to me. Even

if you heard it from someone else, but

just hearing it from them, it just has

this resonant power and impact and it

did help me a lot. I didn't have it from

my top rivals at the time, but I had it

from some guys like even Lubichic, for

example, who was, you know, fellow

Croatian tennis player, and he was a

number three or four in the world at

that point. And then I was uh breaking

through as a teenager and we shared the

same tennis coach. He influenced me in a

positive way to like change the wrecket

or string pattern or strings and all of

these small details that you might not

think that are maybe relevant or but you

hear them. You hear it from them and

then you're like, "Okay, now I'm ready

to make the decision because I trust

what he tells me cuz you know he's a

testament to what he's preaching

basically."

>> Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting because

I love that you offered that. I was

talking to Carmelo Anthony recently, the

basketball player from the Knicks and

>> you know very successful Hall of Famer

and he was telling me that in basketball

he doesn't find the young players being

that open

>> to coaching and guidance from the senior

players. How do you find it in tennis?

Is it more open? Is there Did you get

people coming back and saying, "Novak, I

have loads of questions for you."

>> Yeah, I would agree with that with

Carmelo because also in tennis because

it's an individual sport as well, it

makes it even more isolated solitude

sport where you are focused on your team

and you create your own environment,

community, and you're like excluding

everything else, which is

understandable, you know, to some point.

Contrary to let's say basketball, we we

do share the locker room. So we sitting

next to each other or warming up next to

each other playing finals for the

biggest tournament, which is crazy to

think about it, you know, whereas, you

know, obviously the the basketball or

football, soccer, you know, these guys,

they don't see each other until they

actually on the court. We, you know,

look at each other, send each other

looks, our team members send each other

looks in the locker room and stuff. So

the battle starts already there. So from

that point of view, it's kind of hard to

expect that they would come and say,

"Hey, look, you know, give me some

advice. How I how can I beat you?" But

uh but that's why I'm saying like

there's many more other things that can

be very helpful like outside of the

court.

>> And yes, there are some young players

that are how can I say open, more

flexible, more curious. And I think it's

not maybe not so much about that, but

it's it's about how shy you are or how

courageous you are to really, you know,

break that boundary and not be afraid of

coming to me or to someone that you look

up to and say, "Hey, can I ask you a

question?" You know, more often I would

get questions through their team

members, to my team members, to me.

>> Yeah.

>> And so, and then I would approach them

and say, "Hey, you can, you know, you

can talk to me. There's no problem."

Yeah. but you know I don't want to

bother you and stuff like this. So yeah

I I think it's very nice if you have

that exchange even if it's a a short one

because the level of appreciation and

respect which I think is ultimately the

most important thing in sports you know

yes we all want to win. Yes we all want

to be the best. Yes we all want to make

records in history.

appreciating

what your fellow athlete goes through.

Compassionate, being compassionate and

empathizing with him or her and

respecting the process is something that

is more eternal.

>> Yeah.

>> In your heart, in your soul, and in in

the eyes of all the other people than

any achievement or any success. I mean,

that's at least how I see it.

>> I love that. I I couldn't agree with you

more because I always try to remind

people that the only person who can

truly relate to you

>> is that person. Like your competitors

are the only people who can actually

relate

>> to what it feels like to be you because

your team, they can't fully relate. Of

course, they can relate. They play

tennis and they understand the game,

>> but they don't know what it feels like

to be in that locker room before you go

on to be at the net when the score is

not in your favor. Like even I talk

about even in our industry like I like

to be friends with everyone in my

industry and I like to connect with

anyone that you genuinely get along with

because for me I'm like you're the only

person who understands what it feels

like

>> to interview people to get the public

criticism to have the scrutiny to be

careful about what you're saying to you

know whatever it may be and if I'm not

friends with you I I have my friends

from back home in London who I loved and

my best friends but They don't know what

it feels like to do this, right?

>> And so in this part of my life, there's

a difference. I wonder with you, you've

been through and and I want to talk

about some really pivotal moments.

You've been through so many injuries,

losses, all of that

>> at this point in your career when you've

achieved so much. You've been through so

much. What goes through your mind when

you lose? Now

>> answer that, but I just want to reflect

on what you said on the industry because

I think it's super important. Uh um and

that's the mentality the right kind of

mentality and the philosophy of uh

instead of division it's unity it's

collaboration it's understanding it's

support it's respect it's appreciation

it's coming together it's growing

industry together understanding that

you're all yes you are competitors I

mean even in your industry you compete

for the audience and so forth and

there's a lot of you know podcasts out

there and it's understandable to a

certain point that you know there are

certain formulas that you developed and

tools that you want to keep to yourself

which is 100% understandable but at the

same time overall in a general

perspective of things we are part of the

same industry we need to grow we need to

grow this awareness so that's how I also

see it for tennis you know in sports

even more so competition

and kind of a fierce mentality is so

prominent to the point where like for

example in basketball I love basketball

you know Serbia is a country of of

basketball is our you know national

sport number one and you have well

intentionally maybe in a in a midst of a

battle under the rim fighting for a

rebound hurt somebody and that's

somebody you elbow somebody okay and

that somebody's down and you can see him

in pain and you don't come and give him

a hand and says hey man sorry let's go I

don't see how that exposes your weakness

because I think that's in the in the

center of everything. It's like

>> don't show your weakness, don't show

your vulnerability, be strong, be tough,

whatever. Of course, we have to be

tough, be strong, be whatever, be fierce

in terms of like wanting to win and

finding way to win. But that doesn't

mean that we can be also human beings

that hey if if I did something to you in

a contact sport like basketball if it's

a foul or something like that hey you

just give him a hand one second and says

whatever let's go let's keep it going

that doesn't mean that you will not

battle in the next minute again.

>> Yeah. So that's the part which I don't

really understand fully or don't support

it but that's why like I feel like

coming together and really showing that

respect even if it's you know before the

game and after the game it really

resonates with people it does send

overall a good message and I think it

improves the sport and brings people

more together. Now to to your question

about losing a match, right? That was

>> Yeah. Like at this stage of your career,

I feel like you've obviously we've

talked about it. You're satisfied.

You've succeeded. You've come back from

like being down on points like and I'm

trying to get into your mindset just

where it's at today and and how it's

evolved over time. Like

>> what does it feel now when you lose have

an early exit? Like what does that feel

like now compared to before?

>> As hard as hard as it was before. Yeah.

Sometimes there is no rule. Sometimes it

takes me an hour, sometimes half a day,

sometimes a day, sometimes a week to go

over the loss. I mean, it just really

depends. But right after the match,

you know, I would uh if I have to

reflect shortly about the match with my

team, but I just want to be left alone.

Yeah. I just have to go through my

process. I don't like the the chitchat,

the small talk of trying to lift my

spirits up right after the match. I just

like just give me some time. I need to

isolate myself, go in my room, go

outside, walk, whatever it is, you know,

just blow some steam out. And then when

I do that, then I'm ready to, you know,

talk, socialize, and stuff like this. I

don't know whether that's something that

is good or not in general terms. Uh but

that's just me. I feel like it's really

hard for me to digest that I lost the

match. As I said, sometimes takes

longer, sometimes shorter to get out of

it. But I do need definitely like few

hours to not see anybody. Like I I hug

my kids. If I see my kids, you know, my

kids sometimes within those few hours

they get me and they're like, "Daddy, we

have to do this. You have to take me

there and stuff." So kids have that

permission to come into my space but you

know anybody else I just need some some

time and I

>> I just feel like it's sometimes is

necessary to have that and in solitude

is not necessarily bad

>> and I feel like we all need to learn how

to embrace being in in solitude and

being by and enjoy being by ourselves

doesn't mean that we have to go to total

extreme but it has to be balanced and

optimal but we need to create that time

for ourselves because also being bored

is good you know being bored this is

something very interesting you know that

I also see with my with my kids like

particularly with my son keeps on

telling me he's 10 and he's like daddy

like he just recently told me a few days

ago we were at at my parents' place

countryside by the lake and we were

alone and he was we were playing

different we were playing ping pong we

were doing some uh kayaking in the lake.

So, and we played some football, soccer.

So, we had a quite active few hours of

first few hours of the day. And then I

was doing something else. I don't know

what I was doing. And then he come up

comes up to me. He's like, "Daddy, I'm

bored." And then I had him sit down with

me and then I said, "But son, it's okay

to be bored sometimes. First of all, you

had a great active morning and you did a

lot of things. And second of all, you

know, when you're bored, it doesn't mean

that you have to instantly take a book

or a screen or anything else. You need

to also learn how to be with your

thoughts. And if you are not comfortable

being bored indoors, go outdoors. Sit on

a chair and have have some drink and

just look at the sky. And I and I think

that's much easier said than done. And I

and I I really would love my my children

to to be able to be okay with being

bored because that's the time when

you're actually most creative or that's

the time when you can manage your

thoughts and everything that you have

been suppressing by distracting yourself

with phone with whatever it is. They

don't have my kids don't have phones.

They're 10 and seven and and that's

another conversation. But you know it's

it's a struggle but it's important you

know I think it's super important

particularly for them at this young age

to understand and develop a connection

with nature with outdoors with activity

with all these things and then it's

inevitable you know soon it will come a

moment where they'll have the the

screens and well they're blend into the

society's norms and but at least I'll be

comfortable as a parent that I done what

I can to instill some of the

foundational things in them that they

will appreciate maybe not now but later

on in life. I think also, you know, when

I lose a match, I want to be distracted

by something. I want to have my phone. I

want to watch something, read something.

I wanna I want to distract myself. And

that's one of the bad habits that I

have. So, it's it's a battle for me. And

that normally how I win this battle is

just go outside. And I either don't take

my phone, I'll leave it, or if I take

it, I'll just if I'm in the city, I'll

just listen to something, listen to Jay

Shett's podcast on purpose, or I would

do something, you know, just or normally

I would listen to a music,

>> you know, relaxing just to kind of calm

myself. I would prefer not listening to

anything and just being immersed in

whatever is outdoors and trying to

trying to find a park, trying to find

anything natural, you know, and I think

that helps a lot. But I do need my time.

>> Yeah, that that's reaffirming for me

because if I'm having a tough time, I've

always found that being alone, I have to

first make sense of how I feel about

something before I hear everyone else's

feelings,

>> right? because otherwise someone's

feeling won't satisfy me. So even if

someone said and I I assume that's what

you're saying. If someone came up to me

and goes, "Oh J, but everything's going

to be all right."

>> It's like if I don't feel that and if I

don't believe that, it doesn't matter

how many times someone says that

>> and and of course the intention is good

for that person. But it's hard for you

to see that at a given moment.

>> Correct.

>> So I I agree with that. And I think to

to the point of distractions, I don't

think that necessarily distractions are

100% super negative.

>> And I'll explain. I I I think that for a

lot of people, they need a moment,

however that moment lasts to it looks

like they're distracting themselves like

when I do it, but it what I what I do is

just bringing myself back to that

center, whatever that is. Okay. And then

I'm ready to do some other practice of

breathing or whatever it is or I can

socialize. I can start speaking with

people. Yes. And do other things. So I

don't feel it's necessarily bad unless

you don't have any control of it. Unless

it just carries you into hours and hours

of playing games or being on social

media of being if it's that then it's

not good. Yeah.

>> Then it's not good because then you're

disrupting your own rhythm. Well, what

you're doing is you're disrupting the

pattern right?

>> So, instead of being there and then

you're just playing the game again in

your head and being down on yourself and

being negative and

>> and so you're disrupting that pattern

with the distraction and then that's a

good thing because then you don't get

into that spiral and it's not like

you're checking what people said on the

comments about the game, right? You're

dis you're disconnecting from the game.

>> I'm disconnecting. Well, the thing is

that if you're on social media, which I

I do have a tendency to go to social

media as well, like right after, even

though

>> I don't want to, but part of me wants

to, it's also where I find some short

clips of what happened in the match and

then kind of like analyze what what

happened and how I why I did what I did

or whatever, what could I could could

have done better.

>> And then I see, you know, this obviously

this shocking headlines like Jookovic is

out, you know, he lost. I mean, what a

shock early blah blah blah. then I get

pissed off and then I just switch that

off. Right? So I don't even get to the

comments or section or anything like

that. Then I just leave it for whatever

whatever time. And then what you're

doing is you are changing that state

you're in. Cuz if you are really wired

in that moment, you are like almost

going to burst. It's not good. I mean,

how can you have a a rational

conversation with anybody if you're in

that state? And then normally in that

state, if you start making decisions

when you're hotaded, not good as well. I

think that these are the the ways of

like if you can like cool yourself down

and then I mean a cold shower is

something that I also do sometimes when

I'm coldheaded that I think also helps

with kind of biology and I feel like

physiology just like helps my mind my

brain calm down and then I'm able to

address topics that I want to address.

>> It's almost like what it takes to be to

emotionally regulate.

>> Yeah. And if you go straight into

analyzing the game or talking about it,

you're actually heartbeat's going up.

You're breathing shallow again. You're

replaying the miss shot and all of a

sudden you're just bombarded by all the

same emotions again. And so you've got

to sometimes just calm that down before

you can do that effectively. It makes a

lot of sense. But what I love hearing,

which is what I love about all my

favorite athletes, and you're

definitely, you know, when I think about

my favorite athletes, you're in tennis,

Cristiano in soccer, Lewis Hamilton in

in F1. Like people sometimes will make

fun of Cristiano online for still crying

when he loses.

>> I love that. Like, as a fan, I love

that. Like, I love to see that he's he's

crying after all this time. Like, you

know, he's the number one goal scorer in

the world. He's, you know, in my

opinion, he's achieved everything he

could possibly could. He's played

amazing for his country, same way as

you.

>> But it's like he's still crying and the

game's not even It's not the Champions

League.

>> He cares.

>> Yeah, he cares. Exactly.

>> He cares and and I I agree with you. I

think Well, this is the point that we

discussed on particularly men

professional sports there's no room for

vulnerability and because that shows

weakness. weakness exploits you and when

something exploits you then you're

vulnerable to you know lose the match or

game or whatever it is. I mean that

that's the narrative. When you're crying

you are yeah you're you're often

regarded as a very weak man and I have

had the same view for quite a long time

I must say and I changed that about 10

years ago my upbringing there was no

room for emotions that was just like

serious I have to do my job and I have

to be successful no room for error etc.

But it also you know comes from I think

my home where I didn't have that

relationship where I when I would cry I

would be you know with my father

especially that I would feel safe I

would not feel that and and so I had to

not cry and be tough and then I have to

I kind of close myself you know and and

to the point where I wasn't able to

express myself emotionally I didn't at

the time when I started dating my

girlfriend at the time my wife you know

it was hard for me to to kind of express

what I feel even though I I'm very

talkative person. I'm very, you know, I

like to communicate and I feel like I'm

very approachable in that in that sense.

But for a long time that was that was a

kind of a narrative particularly in you

know men's sports as we talked about it.

So I I do like that about Cristiano as

well because in the end of the day, you

know, he's giving his heart out on the

pitch

for his team, for the fans, and that

ultimately needs to be respected because

the guy at his age 40 after everything

he has achieved, still going, still

wants to win in a league that is far

weaker than the best leagues in Europe,

you know, but he still has this

champions mentality and he'll always

have it as long as he's playing. So, uh,

yeah, absolutely credit to him for that

and and I do resonate with with that and

I cried many times after my losses in

the locker room but also on the court

particularly after Olympics like losses

at Olympic games for my country or Davis

Cup when I play for my country that's

like even stronger intensity of emotions

that you go through because you're not

playing for yourself only in that way. I

mean, when I play all the tournaments, I

always represent my country. But here in

this official team competitions or

Olympics, it's even more emphasized the

importance of your country of wearing

those colors, you know, on your sleeve

or in your heart. So, when you lose,

you're like, you know, you're so down

and the whole world collapsed. I'm very

happy that I I was able to win the

golden medal for my country last year in

Paris Olympics because it was a long

time dream of mine and the Olympic Games

are just so special. You know, every

four years I know LA is the next one

obviously.

>> My wish is to be able to play LA. I

mean, hopefully I'll be still still

playing to to be able to participate.

>> Yeah, I hope so, too. It would be fun to

be able to just watch you locally for

once.

>> And we got the soccer world coming to

America, too. So,

>> it's an exciting time. But no, it's I

love hearing that as well. Just like

when you're playing for yourself, you

let yourself down. You let the fans

down. But when you're playing for your

country, you let the country down. And

you know, no one wants to let their

country down. No one wants to, you know,

everyone wants to represent well. And I

think sometimes at a national level,

athletes get it really tough when you

lose for your country. Yes.

>> It's it's one of the hardest feelings

cuz Yeah. It's a different emotion. And

I think we forget as fans and followers,

you forget the human

>> experience aspect. Yeah.

>> No, for sure. I mean, look, we are very

blessed as athletes on the highest level

to be able to play the sport that we

fell in love with because if not all,

but super majority of professional

athletes play those sports on the

highest level. uh because when they were

kids they wanted to play tennis,

basketball, football, whatever. They

fell in love and it's a love and passion

for the game that got you going. So it's

important to state that because you know

we are for sure fortunate ones but at

the same time we feel that through sport

we are able to connect with people and

people are able to connect

>> with the virtues that sport and the

values that sport represents that help

them in their everyday life. I think

they that's not something that is has

been talked about a lot.

>> Yeah I agree on how why is it that our

sports are so popular? Why is it that

people relate to athletes? It's because

of this grit, because of this battle. We

all go through internal battle on the

daily basis. And in sports, we can of

course admire the the features of um an

athlete and the skills and the talent

and the abilities, but at the same time,

we also identify ourselves with those

athletes. We we feel like wow you know

that this game or a match it's in a way

a condensed daily life or a condensed

life into an hour or two or three where

you you start at the beginning you're

even then you end up you know winning or

losing but in the process of journey of

the match and the game you're going

through ups and downs you're going and

particularly in individual sports you're

going you mentioned Lewis Hamilton

another great legend. You're going

through that battle of you know trying

to win that inner battle where you go

through your doubts, your worries, your

fears. So all of these elements are part

of everyday life of everyday person and

that's why I feel like people relate to

sports and also they they when they go

to see sport live particularly but also

when they watch it on TV I feel they're

able because they they are so connected

to the community of that club or that

athlete or whatever it is they feel like

all of their problems stop at least for

those hour two three hours that they are

watching

>> and they feel like they can also when

they're watching I mean that's my

observation and experience with tennis

fans for example or or I mean of course

I watch basketball live as well or the

other fans of the other sports is that

that's where they feel like they can

free themselves of the emotions and the

burdens that are kind of wearing them

down and and some sometimes it really

goes to an extreme level where people

start really or swearing and fighting

and throwing stuff at the the athletes

and behaving really bad like hooligans.

And that's obviously a part that I don't

support. But I can see that there's a

lot of people that like it's why that's

why like after a game they either feel

drained or they feel energized. M

>> they either feel like they've

kind of like collected that energy from

the stadium or they feel like they're

completely like a deflated balloon

because they've, you know, been through

crazy intensity of the emotions and they

relate. They follow every point and

every second of the game and then they

in the end of course if their team loses

it's it's a big difference than when

they win. But it's just that

identification that happens that I feel

like is super strong and why sports are

so important for the society and why

people regarded as very something very

popular and important for them. And I'm

really glad you're having that

conversation because I think it can have

even as a kid like I grew up playing

sport never you know good enough to play

at any semi-professional even

professional level but sport created

discipline in my life even as someone

who wasn't

>> you know that prolificate sport it

created discipline created teamwork if

you were playing a team sport created

timeliness created commitment created

showing up there were so many healthy

valuable masculine

>> traits as well that were so important

and of course for women as well. And

it's interesting what you say about it

going the toxic side because I think it

was the last Euros of the World Cup and

there was this statistic about how

domestic violence in England goes up if

England lose

>> but it goes up even more if England win.

>> Oh wow.

>> Because people drink more when they win.

>> Right.

>> So and that's just so shocking that you

see that connection too. And that's why

I think it's even more important to get

these positive messages through sport

out so that we don't have that kind of a

statistic because and that's

specifically to do with football,

soccer.

>> Yes, of course. Um but

>> no, it is a super important and I think

but in in football it's far more extreme

than in tennis in terms of the

>> tennis ultra fans and you know the kind

of like uh

>> following and and uh being such an ultra

devoted fan. I mean, they literally live

for that the entire year, which I think

it's beautiful when you see

choreographies of some fans in the

basketball games or football games and

and it's just it's it's arts. It's

beautiful, you know, and then this

energy when thousands and tens of

thousands of people start singing

together for their club. I mean, it's

it's incredible feeling. That's why we

all love being present to experience

that because ultimately

>> human beings love to experience things

because that

>> that fills our life

>> and and then sports allow us to do that.

that allow us to experience some

incredible enthusiastic

exhilarating type of uh uplifting

energy, joy, but it also the sadness or

or anxiousness and stuff and and so all

of these emotions that you go through is

just an incredible school of life in

some way. But you're right, you know, it

also teaches professional sports teach a

great dis great deal of discipline and

also the never giving up spirit that I

think it's it's it's important for

people because today in the society

because

>> a lot of people look to to conform to be

comfortable to you know there's always

you know something that I can do

differently they don't finish things so

it's important to kind of remind

yourself to be devoted and and not give

up and believe that you you know,

achieve something that you set yourself

up to. And uh so yeah, sports sports

definitely send those values and you're

right, it's important to always

emphasize that.

>> Yeah. One of my favorite stories

actually

of that never give up mindset was

Vanessa Bryant tells this story after

Kobe Bryant tragically passed away. And

she said that Kobe played through a lot

of games, especially finals, when he was

injured.

>> Yeah. and she would ask him and say,

"Why are you playing when you're

injured? You should just not play. Like,

it's okay." And he would say that if I

don't play, there's going to be a fan

out there who's saved up to watch this

game and they can only come to one game

in their life cuz it's expensive to get

seats. And they saved up to watch me

play. And if I don't play, they won't

see me play. And so, I'm going to play

through an injury. And I'm like, when

you hear stories like that of athletes

doing incredible things, you think, wow,

like

>> that's the power, that's the motivation.

I was going to ask you, I mean, you've

played through and overcome some bad

injuries. What's the worst injury that

you ever had to overcome to be able to

come back at the top? I had a surgery of

my elbow back in 2017 and I've kind of

uh had that injury for a year and a half

and I tried with I don't normally drink

anti-inflammatories. I don't like that

those tablets and

cortisol shots or anything like that. I

feel like that's only masking the

problem. But you know sometimes if you

really you know in tennis we we

sometimes play five six days in a row

and you have no other option and if you

want to stay alive in the tournament you

have to do it. So I've done it for like

a year or something with playing uh

under these pills like every single

match

>> to the point where I didn't feel pain

anymore. Sorry, actually I felt the pain

even if I was taking the full dose of

anti-inflammatories and that's was the

sign for me like I have to you know

operate this I have to do something

different I made a kind of a a little

bit of a while to myself and promise

that I will not operate myself

throughout my career will not make any

surgery and that was I I felt I let

myself down. I cried for days that I

accepted to do a surgery but surgery was

done very well. You cried for days?

>> Yeah, because I felt like I let myself

down. I said, you know, I wanted to go

throughout my entire career without

having one surgery. But it happened and

I had an aroscopic intervention on my

knee last year during a match in Roland

Garas actually fourth round. I've won in

five sets after four and something

hours. But I was uh I was winning set

and and a half comfortably in the last

16 round. And then I felt a click. It

was something. It was very weird. And I

never had an injury of the knee luckily

at least that severe. And then you know

I started to play but I could not stand

on my leg and I was playing through the

pain. Then I invited the physio and the

doctor and then you know he was touching

me in this spot where my meniscus is and

I felt wow and that's very painful. He's

like what do you want to do? And I said

listen you know I want to I want to give

it a shot. I want to try. Just give me

strongest painkillers you you have right

now cuz I'm on the court full stadium. I

can't just I I want to try. So that's

what he's they've done. And after 30

minutes they start kicking in and I was

kind of surviving in this 30 minutes and

then the pain went down. The pain was

still there but I went through it and I

won the match and I actually finished

the match with pretty good feeling. I

still had pain but it was pretty good

feeling and I was like confident for my

quarterfinals. It was coming up in two

days, but the next day I went for an MRI

and I saw I have a ruptured uh meniscus

and basically had to be operated. So I I

pulled out on the tournament and I did

that operation and the Wimbledon was

coming up in 3 weeks and then my team

was I still remember that conversation

with my team on the rooftop and on the

back of that story that you told me

about Vanessa and Kobe, you know,

Vanessa was telling Kobe why do you

play? Don't play. like it's it's a

normal protective advice from a dear

person in your life. same I got from all

of my people from my family members to

my team members and my I remember my

physio that I'm with for the last 20

years he told me yeah you know it's

normally like four to six weeks and

stuff like this but you know we had some

miraculous recoveries from some athletes

blah blah and my my physio was sitting

on the on the rooftop of our hotel and

all team was there and he said I know

you do not even think for a second

you'll play Wimbledon like that's out of

the question

>> wow And I didn't say anything. All the

team members agreed. I didn't say

anything. Actually, one thing I say, I

said, I understand what you're saying,

but please, you know, for my own mental

sanity, because it's Wimbledon, because

it's my always been a dream tournament,

the most important tournament. Let's

just see how it goes in the next two

weeks because I have three weeks to the

tournament and I can pull out three,

four, five days before the tournament.

So I have like two two and a half weeks

to play around. At that point I was with

crutches.

>> So long. So long story short, I've

dedicated so much time in a day to

recover and it was like a task for me to

prove even the closest people in in my

team and family wrong that I can recover

and it was really a mission and I

recovered and I played finals and I I

lost last year finals in Wimbledon and

then I a week after that came to the

Paris back again and played Olympics and

won the gold medal. So it was the best

period of my of my uh 2024 season is

when I actually had a surgery a post

surgery because something clicked in my

head where he triggered me my physio and

said do not even think and for me what I

heard is okay thank you for giving me

the task because now I have a challenge

on my hands. Yeah.

>> All I needed is that and actually that's

what I need now. I feel like in this

phase of my career when I'm trying to

motivate myself and keep going and stuff

I need a challenge. I think athletes in

the highest level after so long they

they need to feel their challenge. They

need to feel that they are playing a

game even though it's our job and every

but we need to feel like we somebody is

going to say something you want to prove

them wrong. Michael Jordan in his last

dance was talking about it. He's like,

even if I didn't have anybody in the

crowds talking crap to me, but I still

picked someone and selected him as an

enemy and just because I needed to

create that enemy inside of my head to

get me going. So, I actually relate to

that even though I don't necessarily

always look for enemies in my every

match in the crowd, but I had quite an

experience with tennis crowds over the

years in my career. oftentimes when I

would play with Nadal and Feather most

of the times I would have most of the

stadium against me. So I it would be

challenging but that's also part of why

my mental toughness is as it is in a

kind of a hostile environments played

most of my matches and big matches and I

kind of had to find a way to win a match

and to use that energy as my fuel and

not have it wear me down.

>> What does that take to do that? Because

it sounds like that scrutiny is worse

than an injury. What's worse? That kind

of hostile environment, hostility or

injury?

>> Look, injury is the biggest enemy or an

opponent of of an athlete. You can't do

your job. You can't play your sport if

you're injured.

Which proves the point of self-care even

more of how important it is and how

significantly you have to address that

and approach that in your daily life as

an individual athlete particularly. But

at the same time, hostile environment is

is not ideal. I mean, you always want to

be playing where you're celebrated,

cheered for, of course, you know, lifts

you up in a tough moments when you're

down and just But I learned in the

somehow in the hostile environment to

thrive and I've seen that, you know,

with like Kobe did it as well, right?

LeBron, you know, other athletes as well

in in their respective sports talked

about it and and football, they

experience it a lot.

>> People can relate to that. Like I think

people always feel

>> Yeah. Even the average person constantly

feels like their work's a hostile

environment or wherever. Like what

allowed you to use it as fuel

consistently over that time to the point

where people were cheering when you

finally win? Well, there are a few

things. First, I mentioned that already

is using that as a fuel to prove

somebody wrong.

>> Mhm. And that requires work mentally to

be able to transform or transmute that

energy or that cheering that is against

you to convince yourself it's for you.

>> So I was I was saying this years ago uh

after I was playing I was playing

feather in one of the Wimbledon finals

and

>> they would cheer Roger Roger all the

time basically. So I've was convincing

myself and I managed to convince myself

especially in the second part of the

match that they were cheering no no in

or Novak Novak. I I that's what I was

hearing.

>> Wow.

>> And that's cool.

>> And then and then my mind was playing a

games but I wasn't allowing it to play

games with me that basically was like

what are you talking about? I mean

they're saying Roger and saying no but I

was like no no no they're saying Novak

Novak Novak Novak. So I was using that

as my own force and my own fuel. Well, I

just got chill

>> and then but that's it is possible. It

is possible but you you need to you need

to work on that and convincing yourself

in something that is different from the

reality that is actually happening or

basically in another words creating your

own reality

>> because in the end that's more

philosophical question and spiritual

whether this is all one reality or it's

a different we all experience different

forms of reality of what's happening. So

creating your own reality and convincing

yourself and basically training your

subconscious mind that this is exactly

what you want to hear. It is possible

but it takes an effort. Uh but but it

goes a long way because for everyday

person you know you can tap into that

subconscious mind that basically

controls 95% of your 100% daily life

while you're awake. You know 5% is only

I mean I was shocked and that's science.

That's not me saying it's science that

is saying that 5% is only conscious

mind. 95 is I was shocked when I heard

that. It's like how in the world are we

then able to live how we want to live

where we are actually on autopilot most

of the time. And that explains the

multitasking. That explains why we can

text and drive and drink and speak and

do five things at the same time is

because of the subconscious. But

subconscious is basically reacting to

what you are instilling or uploading in

that program.

>> Mh. So I feel like when I was introduced

to that uh subconscious mind science I

was you know I felt like I've change

myself and my own perspective on things

and how I approach life and performance

and relationship and I could see that

and I I still make mistakes and I still

do plenty of mistakes not on the tennis

court or outside in relationship and

everything. I'm more conscious and more

aware where it's coming from and why I

did it. And then I'm going to keep on

doing mistakes, but I'll try to reduce

those. And I feel like being in control

is something that we all want to be in.

Like we want to control our thoughts, we

want to control our lives, our partners,

and we want to but it's not possible and

it shouldn't be the case. Like you can

only control what you can, which is your

own process internally. And then how

that comes across what I speak to you

right now and what you think in your

mind and how you hear my words is I

can't control that.

>> You know I can only hope that I am

emitting the right kind of energy and

vibe to you and that we are creating

something nice. That's where I feel like

we all get trapped a lot is like no I'm

going to prove you the point of what I

was saying and I'm going to tell you why

you are causing this in me and so forth.

putting always a blame to someone else.

And I mean, I can feel that with tennis

is that I can instantly see the mistake

when I actually say it's my coach's

fault or it's my physio's fault or my

fitness coach's fault or it's whoever's

fault for me losing a match or me

playing this way. So, I always remind

myself, hey, take the responsibility in

your hands. Take the means in your

hands. You are in control of your life.

Maybe not fully because there's always

this destiny or divine uh purpose of us

being here and the karma from past lives

and etc. That's another conversation.

But what you can control, focus on that.

The other things is just, you know, it's

in God's hands and it's in the hands of

other people and how that all interacts.

But I believe that when you're training

yourself to think good thoughts and it

comes back to you. It's the

>> the law of attraction and the law of

giving and taking and it comes back, you

know, you become what you think, right?

And so there's there's true power in

that.

>> Novak, you've been so kind and generous

with your time. I've got a few more

questions for you.

>> You know, I think you've talked so much

about health, self-care, discipline. I

know that you have your new supplement

out that I can't wait to try as well,

your hydration. It's called Cila, which

I love the meaning of. If you can share

what that means. But I love that you're

finding a way to productize your

mindset, like I actually am because I

think people like myself who want to

know what is that 0.00001%

mindset and what are you discovering and

taking and you were just sharing it with

me earlier. I was just thinking I'm so

excited about that to try it out for

myself because I try and treat myself

like an athlete even if I'm not playing

in the games you are because to me I'm

trying to operate at that mindset that

level physically, mentally, emotionally,

spiritually and and I love that. So I

guess where did that come from? Was that

this idea of you know as you're thinking

about tennis and thinking about beyond

tennis like where did that come from? I

was always trying to think beyond tennis

you know particularly well

>> particularly in the last I would say 12

to 15 years of my my career my life I

mean I because I was hearing early on

from some other not just tennis players

established tennis players who were

retired and and shared their experience

of Paul's career with me but also other

athletes and how you know the struggles

they had mentally and particularly the

struggles that they had if they have not

prepared themselves for that transition.

I believe that in some way you cannot

fully prepare yourself for that

transition mentally like it's going to

be a sad day for me when I leave tennis

and it's going to be very emotional. I

know that. But what I'm talking about is

basically the adrenaline that also needs

to be filtered

or re-chanled somewhere. And I know that

I will play sports for the rest of my

life cuz I love sports and being active

is essential. But also I feel like you

need a challenge. Tennis has consumed

most of my life and that's what I know

how to do best. But I have very broad

interest in a lot of different things

and the industry or the the sphere of of

life which is called health, wellness

and well-being is my biggest passion and

it's very broad ecosystem or field if if

you want as you know because you're part

of it but it has been my passion for 15

plus years and you know uh always

imagined the world where most of the

people will take care of themselves of

you know how they hydrate, how they eat,

exercise, how they manage their sleep,

just the healthier world and of course

it's it's hard to change everything at

the same time and it of course takes a

lot of different time because it's the

planet is big and there's a lot of

people but I think taking small steps

is very valuable and it has its effect.

So hydration is something that was

always super important for me as a

professional athlete and I noticed that

people who live everyday life but not

only them but also athletes don't really

understand the importance of hydration

and don't really understand maybe how to

fully hydrate themselves on a cellular

level

>> because when we talk about hydration

obviously first thing that comes to your

mind is drink water right we drink water

we have to we wouldn't survive a day

without water. So, that's normal. But

then we also have all these other

ingredients and vitamins and minerals

and things that we're trying to take,

whether it's through supplementation,

whether it's through food. Obviously, if

you can get everything through food,

it's the best.

>> Brian Johnson, I saw the other dayund

and whatever tablets that he's taking. I

mean, it's I don't know how he does it.

I mean amazing but I I don't think I

would be able to drink and I don't want

to drink that many tablets. I do have

supplementation myself but I prefer

trying to take everything through food

>> but it's difficult because our soil is

depleted. uh the food that we are

getting is most of the time comes from

the other remote side of the world

travels lost its nutrients you know and

it's hard you know we have a polluted

air polluted water polluted soil all of

these things you know play an important

role in the inflammatory processes in

our body or how we ingest uh uh certain

ingredients and uh substances that are

necessary for optimal health. So going

back to the hydration, I think hydration

is probably the easiest step towards

that healthier diet or healthier life

and it's something that we cannot go

without on a daily basis and something

that is easy as breathing. That's

something that everybody can do. Diet

changes are something that is more

challenging I think for people and there

are hundreds of different diets and I

don't want to get into it because

everyone has their preference but I

think hydration is probably something

that we will all agree with. So since

2017 or 18 I've been working on this

project and I've been thinking you know

and I didn't want to come out I could

have come out. I've worked with few

different people and I finally then

agreed to come out on the market with uh

it's basically a a a wellness brand

called Sila and one of the well the

first product that we come out with is

hydration but we have magnesium we are

working on our sleep formula neutropic

formula gut formula so we're going to

have a line of different products and

I'm doing that and my partner in that is

actually my best friend uh Mark

Stilitano who is also very very pass. He

used to play tennis uh and we know each

other since we were teenagers and very

very passionate guy about you know

wellness and hydration and healthy

lifestyle. So we I found that we are

very synergetic in our mission and

vision and he had something similar in

his life that he wanted to do and he

said let's join forces and do it

together. So, we just recently started.

We're very quietly uh kind of as a soft

launch because

>> I I don't want this product uh or this

brand to be just one of the many many

out there. And when I say that, I mean

that every ingredient that is in every

of the product needs to be 100% best

quality that is out there. But, you

know, I'm very passionate about this

because it's a kind of a continuation of

my passion, of my story, of my journey.

It's it's what I love. It's what I drink

on a daily basis. My kids drink it, my

wife, everybody. And so, I'm always

looking for new ways or best supplements

or things that can improve my

performance, that can improve my

performance, not just on the tennis

court, but also in life for me to have

more clarity, more energy, better sleep,

and stuff like this. So I decided to do

something on my own because the

supplements out there that I was trying

there are some good ones but I was not

fully satisfied. So I try to kind of

take the means in my hands and control

the process from A to Zed. It's it's the

way I am. It's how I do things and

>> and so hopefully people will like it. I

don't know you know it's it's going to

be interesting journey that we're

embarking on. Uh and other than that I

have another very interesting project.

It's called Regenesis Pod that I want to

get you in that pod.

>> It's been it's been also six years that

we're working on that and we're

launching later this year.

>> And that that pod is like a capsule, you

know, like one of those sleeping

capsules that you have in a an airport.

>> Mhm. So about 12 13 years ago I was in

Dubai airport and I was in business

class lounge and I was like look at me

you know I'm so you know lucky to be

here and to be able to have a bed or

have this you know sleeping pod or

something like that but you know 99% of

the people I mean they're on layovers

they're in transit they're sleeping on

the floor and uncomfortable chairs and

stuff. So felt like how cool would it be

if you know on the airport we would have

these pods where people will go in and

out not only to nap and sleep but to be

go in and out in shortest amount of time

whether it's you know 8 10 15 20 minutes

and feel refreshed and feel re-energized

they can reset their system and recharge

the batteries and go on with their day

and by that time I was already traveling

with a additional suitcase of gadgets of

uh near infrared, far infrared, pulse,

electromagnetic frequency, different

plates, boards, uh you name it. I mean,

essential oils, this that uh light

therapies, uh vibrational frequencies,

uh sounds, everything, everything that

is out there in the market that I find

amusing and interesting, I take it, I

try it, I try to implement it. So, I'm

still traveling with these gadgets. And

so I said, "Okay." So I I partnered up

with with my partner Tav Keen who is

Australian and and lives in Bali. And so

we we connected and then he had also

some similar thoughts. And then we're

like, "Okay, can we do this pod where I

would have all these gadgets

incorporated in one multi-ensory

device."

>> Wow.

>> Where they don't interfere with each

other, but they complement each other.

So where you go in, you're like in a

Faraday cage. you're protected from

harmful radiation of the the towers, the

Wi-Fi, the 5Gs, etc. and you are just

giving yourselves a rest and recharging

and then you know being stimulated with

all these things would it be possible

and so four or five years of of R&D and

we finally created it. So it's quite an

exclusive I would say product because

it's you know it's very expensive it's

big it's not like a hydration drink but

my dream is to have that in every

airport. It started like that but then

of course the corporate wellness is a

big world as well. the corporations I

mean people who work 9 to5 98 they're

staying all day seated you know their

posture all these things are affected

they don't have the the the ability to

uh ground their feet and be in the

nature and stuff it's always this

fast-paced modern lifestyle on the go on

the go give me a quick fix I'm eating my

lunch in the car on the go what you know

so I understand you know I'm not not

judging I understand we all we all out

of that world. So that's why I kind of

wanted to create a in a way uh even even

though I don't like that term, a healthy

quick fix to a modern fast-paced

lifestyle. Men or women that that live

and don't have time, they come back

home, they're super tired, exhausted,

and they have kids, they have the

spouse, they have everything happening,

and they're like, "Oh my god, I'm sore.

I'm this. I'm depleted. I'm not sleeping

well, etc." So it's it's quite complex,

but this could be and I hope it will. I

mean, again, I'm biased and we've been

doing uh I mean, hundreds or maybe even

thousands of people have done it trials

and the the results are incredible.

We're doing a scientific um a study now

uh a human study in in uh one two

universities in United States with a pod

and so can't wait to to see the results

of that and uh see how it rolls out, you

know. So, I'm very passionate about it.

These are some, you know, I have some

few other projects that I'm very uh

involved in and and but I like it

because it's it's in my alley. Yeah.

>> You know, it's in the area of life that

I'm not only passionate about, but that

I I feel like I have experience in

knowledge to some extent. And of course,

I surround myself with with people who

are more qualified and knowledgeable

about than me in that space. And then we

develop it together. And I feel like

like you trying to make other people

feel better. Yes. You know, whether it's

mentally or physically

uh through supplements, through this

pod, through this podcast, through

talking, through, you know, sharing the

journey, sharing the maybe some hacks

and techniques and stuff that they can

do.

>> Yeah.

>> You know, in the end of the day, that's

actually what drives it. I feel like it

drives you a lot, you know, because it

gives the purpose on purpose. It gives

you purpose in your life. It's not like

only about yourself and what you do and

the achievements and the fame and money

and everything. It's it's really about

how you make your mark in the world.

What's the legacy? What do you leave

behind? How do people, you know, benefit

from you and what you say, what you do,

what you create. So that's a kind of a

driving force. You know, one of the best

psychologists that I work with and one

of the most impressive and intelligent

people that I ever met in my life, his

name is Dr. Jim Lair and he he was one

of the founders of a human performance

institute HPI in Florida and we worked

for a few years and you know he has this

obviously one of the most important

questions is what would you like to have

written on your tombstone and would you

like you know people to list your

achievements or is it something else?

How would you like people to remember

you? You know, but deeply think about

that. And then we would go through a

process of writing things down and

really kind of deconstructing

my personality, my life, what I'm living

in the given moment and what I how I see

the future self and how I see the future

of the world and and whether I feel like

I strongly believe that I can make that

impact. So I feel this is everything

that I do is related to that source of

the purpose and of the light that is in

the center of everything because you

know I I've also turned down many

different companies in my life that

wanted me to be an ambassador because I

just feel it's very hard for me to

represent and advocate something to

millions of people that I really don't

believe in. wouldn't never drink that

drink or eat that or or whatever it is.

I just if it's not aligned with my

philosophy, my mindset, it's not going

to work. And and I've selected that

journey which is for my managers and my

agents, not the ideal one,

>> but at the same time, I'm calm in my

heart, in my mind, because I know that

I'm doing something that is right. I

love that and I'm so excited to try it

and I'm I'm grateful that you've said

that and that authenticity is there

because I personally am someone who

wants to try new things and wants to

know what the best are using especially

when you're creating it yourself. You're

not putting your name to it. It's not

something you know it's you're actually

saying no this is what I use. This is

what I'm doing. I think that's

important.

>> So Novak we end every interview with the

final five. These have to be answered in

one word to one sentence maximum.

>> Okay.

>> Uh and then I may ask you to go over but

Novak Jovovich, these are your final

five.

>> The first is what is the best advice

you've ever heard or received?

>> Live the life in the present moment.

Learn from the past. Live in the present

and work for the future.

>> What is the worst advice you've ever

heard or received?

The worst advice.

If someone

does good to you, do 10 times better to

them. But if someone does bad to you, do

10 times worse to them.

>> Oh, that second part is not good advice.

Exactly.

>> That first part's beautiful.

>> Yeah. But the second it the first part

is connected to the second one. That's

why I said it. But second one I don't

like.

>> Yeah. I think it's almost like if

someone does good to you, do 10 times

better to them. And if someone does bad

to you, do 10 times less to them. Like

just right,

>> you know, that would be good advice.

That's a good answer. I've never heard

that. That's that's really really good.

Um what's

>> the power of having had such a beautiful

relationship with your partner, your

wife, Yena? I can't do an interview

without giving her credit and talking

about her cuz I feel like a a good man

needs a good woman. and such a big

important part of all of our lives.

Yeah.

>> Yes. Yes. Thank you for asking me about

my wife and you know we've been together

since my age 18. She was 19 so very long

time. We dated. We went through

different stages and different phases

and basically she's the only like very

serious relationship that I've ever had

and and uh yeah she's my rock. She's

someone that has seen the worst and the

best sides of me. She has seen my

evolution. She has challenged me on

every level. We have grown together and

we have two beautiful children and we

still keep on growing and evolving and

we have challenges as I guess every

couple has. But I think we have a an

amazing base and foundation and we

always when we have challenging times in

relationship we revert to that and we

address you know why we are together who

we are as people and how we've grown and

and the future that we see is the future

that we see together. And so we whatever

we try to do we try to do it together.

So all of the projects that I told you

about and everything, she's been

involved and it's very important for me

to always hear her thoughts, her

feedback, and because she's probably the

only one in my life other than my my

brothers uh or my

one or two friends that is able to tell

me things that I maybe don't want to

hear

>> and really challenge my ideas, challenge

my thoughts, challenge my decisions, and

often times her instinct or intuition

was correct and mine wasn't. I have to

say that. But uh no, jokes aside, she

has been an incredible partner in this

whole journey, professionally,

privately emotionally romantically as

a parent as well. So I still play at

this level because also of the support

that she's giving to our family back

home.

>> And I remind myself of that a lot. You

know, I've I've grown up with two

younger brothers in a very small

apartment with and I've seen what my

mother, you know, did and what she does

for a family and what women do to keep

families together and intact and bring

this incredibly powerful energy to our

life and to that gives us wings and that

gives us a springboard for everything

that we're doing outside of home is just

something that one will never comprehend

unless one experiences that family life.

So we've been through all these

different journeys together as you know

uh kids, teenagers and you know getting

more serious in relationship and her

being my fiance and then getting married

and then having two kids. So yeah, it's

it's hard to express everything that I

that I feel as as kind of love and

gratitude towards her and what she means

to me in my life. Yeah, I feel like when

I've met her or interacted with her,

she's always just operating such a high

frequency and a high vibration. Like she

has that natural energy and it's good

for I feel like that about my wife and I

feel like it's good

>> to have someone in your life who's that

close to you that can call you out and

>> check on you and, you know, realign you.

I I know I value that deeply and my wife

does the same for me. Question four is

two as well. Uh, what was your worst day

on court and what was your best day on

court?

>> I would say winning a gold medal for my

country in Olympics in Paris 2024 would

be the best moment, even better. And it

surpasses me winning Wimbledon for the

first time or winning Davis Cup with my

country and stuff. And I have I've been

incredibly fortunate to experience some

of the I mean the greatest achievements

in our sport. that one just because I

was 37 at the time. I mean 37 years old

and maybe my last shot at the real shot

at the gold medal and everything with

how it happened and how it unfolded is

just you know that's the moment and the

worst would be I I I would say actually

also Olympics when I was when I lost the

Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016

I uh was

yeah struggling a a little bit with this

injury of the wrist and didn't know if

I'm going to play or not. Uh I played I

lost to Delpotro dear friend and went on

to win a silver medal for his country.

Uh I lost in first round in a tight two

setter and two tie breaks and it was

super emotional because

Olympics playing for my country being

supported by the whole stadium being in

probably at the peak of my career

overall being on a on a run and on the

rolling

four slams. I held all four slams at

that point. I was just the most dominant

I've ever was in my career. Practicing

several days, I was like, I cannot miss

a ball. Like, this is my time. This is

there's no no chance anybody beats me

here. And then one day or two days

before the match, I start to feel

something in the wrist, start to doubt

myself. I start to question whether I

should go out or not. I have a very

tough draw. I draw Delotro is very tough

draw. first round and I lose close match

you know as I said he goes on to win

silver medal but I that was the moment

where I just felt like my whole world

collapsed

>> yeah very very tough so it's interesting

now that you ask me because I never

thought about it but

>> best moment and worst moment happened in

Olympic games because Olympic games

>> happen every four years they're so rare

and all the other tournaments you have a

chance every year to win but here you

know every four years. So, you got to be

at at your top to be able to, you know,

get a medal.

>> That's cool. That's good. Good memories.

And I'm glad you got the gold last year.

So I

>> appreciate it.

>> Uh, toughest opponent mentally and

toughest opponent physically.

>> Toughest opponent mentally by far

myself.

>> I like that's a good answer.

>> By far. And the toughest opponent

physically,

Nadal. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the

battles with him were just grueling. The

longest Grand Slam finals in history in

the finals of 2012 Australian Open. 5

hours and 53 minutes I think it was. So

almost 6 hours of grueling battle. I won

that match in the fifth set. 75 or 76.

It was just I remember the closing

ceremony after that. We were standing

and and listening to the sponsor's

speeches and stuff and we at one point

we both simultaneously bent down and

held our knees and I could see his legs

are shaking, my legs are shaking and

then I and then someone saw that and

brought us two chairs and brought us

water and we had to sit down and sit for

the rest of the ceremony because we were

just I went into the locker room, took

out my shoes and I had blood on all over

the socks on both both socks and I

didn't feel it obviously in this

adrenaline rush on the court you just go

through the pain you go through

everything and then you like once you

cool off and your muscles are cold and

everything it's just like devastating

feeling you can't walk but you know

obviously more satisfying when you win

such battle but I had incredible matches

against Nadal clay court matches I mean

clay is the the slowest surface and

physically in our sport and playing him

on clay in Roland Garas is probably the

top challenge you can have in the

history of our sport cuz he you know he

was getting to every ball and I was also

very very good defender and always and

you know very physically fit. So we

would like push each other to the very

limit physically and mentally you know

it was at times almost like an outof

body experience for both of us where we

would just everything would flow. We

would play incredible points that would

last so long exchanges and you know when

you finish a match then you realize oh

my god it's almost like you were not

playing it. It was like something took

over and just all your talent the skill

everything was on a scale or on a

platform that we created. It's like

almost like a an artist when he goes

into his on a canvas into his zone and

just starts drawing some beautiful.

That's how it felt,

>> you know, many times when I played him.

>> And now when I talk about it and

reflect, it gives me, you know, a great

sense of pride uh and satisfaction that

I've had the rivalry that I had with him

and that, you know, I feel like not only

we we both made history of the sport,

but we both made each other better. And

I feel like we brought so many

incredible emotions to people who were

watching us play.

>> Yeah, you can still watch those. I love

Tik Tok now because you got the

highlights.

>> You can just watch those highlights for

ages like all the best points and people

compile it and you just think, "Wow,

it's it is

>> it's poetry in motion to just watch,

>> you know, two two artists play

together."

>> Uh, fifth and final question. We asked

this to every guest who's ever been on

the show. Not in the beginning, though.

So these all these rituals came

afterwards. Uh if you could create one

law that everyone in the world had to

follow, what would it be?

>> Hard to pick one thing, but I I would

probably create a law without punish

greatly someone who just

destroys our planet, throws trash in the

nature or in the water or,

you know, disrespects

our mother nature and the planet we live

on.

Maybe it would be a law where you would

have to say hello to every person that

walks by.

>> Mhm.

>> Just trying to be more kind, more

gracious, a little bit more

compassionate. We need a little bit more

empathy and compassion in this planet

because when we when we are as people

closer to each other and we are less

divided, I feel like then as a positive

consequence of that, we will take care

of the planet we're living on.

>> Yeah. Well, Novak, as always, I'm

inspired to see what you do, continue to

do in tennis, what you'll do beyond

tennis, and last time we covered your

story of how you became and who you were

and where you started. And I feel like

today we've added another beautiful

chapter onto that growth. And I'm so

grateful to you for showing up as you do

always, for living as intentionally as

you always do. I still remember we

finished the last interview and even

today my team was saying it after the

interview last time you spent an hour

talking to my team at that time and even

today when you were coming in every oh

my god he's so nice he's so kind it's

just it's amazing to see someone who's

truly truly truly uh the goat of their

sport to be that humble grounded kind at

all times with everyone uh it's truly

admirable

>> and all the truly best people have it

So, you know, yeah, you're

>> Thank you, Jay, for having me and thank

you for for spending, you know, two

hours with me and I, you know, we time

flew by. I mean, it's incredible and

it's I feel like the the connection and

the energy was was amazing as it always

is with you and I hope that for the next

chapter, we won't need to wait another 5

years.

>> I agree. Let's let's promise each We

need to we need to we promise each other

we got to we got to meet uh more

frequent because I think we are both uh

>> you know expanding and evolving and

doing incredible things in our own

fields and so many interesting things to

talk about and to share. So for sure I'

I'd love to uh I'd love to be your guest

a little bit more frequently and not

wait for a long time. But thank you for

having me and

>> thank you

>> allowing me to share my story.

>> Thank you man. Anyone who's been

listening and watching, let me and Novak

know. Tag us on Instagram, on Tik Tok.

Let us know what's resonating with you,

what's connecting with you. If there was

a a message, a game, a point, something

that Novak shared with you that is going

to stay with you for some time, let us

know. I love seeing what has an impact

on you. That's the goal of these

conversations. I want to see what shifts

you make, the habits you change, and the

new goals that you achieve because of

this conversation. A big thank you to

Novak again, and we'll see you on the

next one. If you love this episode, you

will love my interview with Kobe Bryant

on how to be strategic and obsessive to

find your purpose. Our children have

become less imaginative about how to

problem solve and parents and coaches

have become more directive and trying to

tell them how to behave versus teaching

them how to behave.