Watch: As Novak Djokovic claims historic 6th ATP Finals title, video of 7-year-old Serb wanting to become tennis champion goes viral
A video of a 7-year-old Novak Djokovic claiming that his aim was to become a tennis champion has been doing the rounds on social media following his ATP Finals victory on Sunday.
The Serb won a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title by beating Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The old video of him, which has since gone viral, features a 7-year-old Djokovic who is asked what he liked the most about tennis and why he played during nighttime.
The young Djokovic replied by saying that he liked forehands, backhands, and volleys. He also stated that he practiced at night as he had homework to attend to after coming back home from school.
"I like the forehand, backhand and the volleys. That is how I beat my opponents. I play in the nights because, in the morning I go to school, afternoon I practice. After that, I finish my homework. So that is why I play in the nights," Djokovic said.
The former World No. 1 then got asked what his target was in tennis, to which he responded by saying he wanted to become a champion.
"My target is to become a champion," the Serb said.
"My goal is to become a tennis champion."
7 years old Novak Djokovic in his first interview on TV 😊 https://t.co/S65pBfkvzw
"It feels deeply satisfying and at the same time huge relief" - Novak Djokovic on ATP Finals victory
In his post-match press conference in Turin, Novak Djokovic said that winning the ATP Finals felt deeply satisfying and also a huge relief at the same time considering the troubles he has had in 2022.
"It feels deeply satisfying and at the same time huge relief because of the circumstances that I have been through this year, situations earlier this year of course with Australia. We don't need to go back. We know what happened. That had an effect obviously on my start of the year. For the first several months, I was trying to find that balance game-wise but also mentally in order to be able to come back to the court and find that tennis level that I need," he said.
The 21-time Grand Slam winner added that the more tennis he played during the 2022 season, the more comfortable he became. He also claimed that the ATP Finals was a special trophy as the triumph came in Italy, a country he loved to play in.
"That has started to happen actually in Italy also, which is no coincidence. In Rome where I won the big tournament. I started to really feel more comfortable playing tennis, being on the court. Wimbledon title was extremely important at that point in time. After Wimbledon, I lost only Paris Bercy basically finals. All the other tournaments I won," he said.
"Had an amazing finish of the season with most of the tournaments I played indoors I won. Indoors has been historically very successful for me. Playing in Italy, in a country where I love to play, have really special connection with people, makes this trophy and this win even more special," the 35-year-old added.