After winning the ATP Finals for a record-tying sixth time on Sunday, Novak Djokovic was asked how special it was to share the moment with his family—wife Jelena, son Stefan and daughter Tara.
“Extremely special for me,” Djokovic replied. “I’m very grateful to my wife and my children for coming. I don’t get to have these moments on the tour with them so much, so I of course try to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.
“I took both of my children, particularly my son, a lot to the training sessions, warm-ups, matches. He was very loud, I must say. I was very surprised. I could hear his voice the entire time. He was very much into it. They both are now aware of what’s going on, what the father is doing.
“Of course, they make my life on the tour easier. The pressures, the expectations, the tensions that you normally go through in a big tournament like this—when they’re around, it lowers a bit, so I can have that time off, quality time with my family. That really soothes me and gives me serenity in order to recalibrate and play my best tennis the next day.
“It was funny because the other day I had a conversation with my wife. It’s great to have them around. She was like, ‘This is too stressful.’ She’s been with me for almost 20 years in my professional career. It’s a lot that she has to do with children around, entertain them, at the same time be there for me.
“I don’t know how many tournaments more I’m going to get this opportunity to have them all. I cherish these moments a lot. Hopefully, as they grow older, they’ll realize even more what special moments we’re living together.”