At the Monte Carlo Masters 2024, one of the American broadcast panelists, Prakash Amritraj sat down with Novak Djokovic for a small chat. During the chat, Amritraj brought up a clip showing Djokovic and Rafael Nadal playing in the 2013 Monte Carlo Masters final. During that moment, Amritraj and Djokovic also discussed the Serbian player’s looks back then. Djokovic lightheartedly claimed that his mother likes his ‘no beard’ look from back then more.
Amritraj playfully teases Djokovic for looking younger and better in 2013, when he was only 26 years old. That is when Djokovic says it’s all about having no facial hair. After that, Djokovic spoke about the importance of the match, and how he managed to stop the ‘Raging Bull’ in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, a near-impossible feat for so many players. Here’s what he had to say –
“No beard. My mom loves it, but you know, I just tend to grow my beard bit longer these days. We were very young and of course, he is ‘King of the Clay’. We know his records and his history on this surface, so that was a huge milsetone for me to win against Rafa. And this was the second title here against Tomas Berdych,” said Djokovic about his wins at Monte Carlo to Amritraj on Tennis Channel.
That final was a huge moment in Djokovic’s career as he won his first ever Monte Carlo Masters, that too beating Nadal i.e. ‘The King of Clay’ in the final. Djokovic’s win against Nadal in the 2013 final put an end to the Spanish juggernaut’s 8-time consecutive title victories before that (2005-2012). In 2015, Djokovic won his 2nd title by beating Tomas Berdych by 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Djokovic continued, “Yeah, it feels a long way back right now. I really hope that I can, you know, get at least to final 8 or final 4 this tournament. You know, I really love it, but somehow playing in the home environment always adds an extra pressure that can sometimes work against you…”
Novak Djokovic on his bond with Rafael Nadal
In an interview last year with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Djokovic talked about his Big Three rivals – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. About Nadal, he said that he must’ve met him more times than he met his parents in the last 15 years. It was a reference to the number of times they have played against each other. As reported by Marca, here’s how the conversation went:
“Nadal is part of my life. In the last fifteen years I have seen him more than my mother,” said Djokovic.
He shared the above fact when he was sharing about his admiration for both Federer and Nadal. Djokovic’s parents have also been a huge pillar of support for him growing up. They supported his dreams of being a professional tennis player and helped him in the cause. His father is Srdjan Djokovic and his mother is Dijana Djokovic. Srdjan is a former skier and skiing coach and Dijana once ran a fast-food restaurant. Today, they live in Belgrade, Serbia.
