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Novak Djokovic trained with his son Stefan ahead of his third round match against Stan Wawrinka at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.
Stefan Djokovic has been a part of Novak Djokovic’s practices for a while now, sometimes batting with his father, sometimes with the other members of the team.
After world number two finished beating Carlos Gomez-Herrera on Friday, Stefan took the court and began warming up his father for his match against Wawrinka, which was scheduled to be played later that night at Central Wimbledon.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion was joking with his son most of the time, but Stefan hit one good shot that Djokovic was asked about in his post-match press conference in Serbia.
“Goran (Ivanisevic) always jokes that thieves are in our blood, and that Stefan inherited it from me — whenever someone is on the net, there’s a lob coming 99 percent of the time (laughs). Today, Stefan lured me in,” Djokovic told Serbian reporters at Wimbledon. “Drop the bullets before they shoot me.”
The 36-year-old, who also has a daughter named Tara, explained how much he enjoys playing tennis against his son.
“It gives me great pleasure to be able to play tennis with my son. This feeling of only loving my son and wanting to play the sport that I have dedicated my life to is a beautiful feeling. When we are together on the court, there is no better feeling in the world,” added Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic Explains His Relationship With Assistant Coach Carlos Gomez-Herrera At Wimbledon 2023
Novak Djokovic has been working with Goran Ivanisevic for a few years, but he recently added an assistant coach to his team.
The man in question is Spaniard Carlos Gomez Herrera, formerly world number 258 in singles, who retired in 2022 and almost immediately became the Serbian partner.
During his post-match press conference after his victory over Stan Wawrinka in the third round of Wimbledon, Djokovic explained how the partnership paid off.
“Except for him being my partner and friend for years, he is also my middle brother Marco’s best friend and one of my best friends,” Djokovic told Serbian reporters.
He added, “I’ve known him for a while now, for 15 years to be exact, since the days when we were playing at the Madrid Open were played indoors. That’s when we met and when we started hanging out.”
The seven-time Wimbledon champion added that Charlie, as he is known on the team, has become more than just a friend.
“He’s played a lot of tournaments with Marco and he’s become part of our family, he’s very close to us. We trained a few times while he was still playing professionally, and when he decided to retire last year, we had a conversation.”
“I wanted him to join my team and everyone agreed. Except for him being my hitting partner and senior assistant coach, Charlie is also a very organized person, and he helps our team logistically and analytically,” said Djokovic.
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