Hamad Medjedovic reveals how Novak Djokovic’s influence was decisive for him

The young Serbian tennis player Hamad Medjedovic will be one of the protagonists of the Jeddah Nex Gen ATP Finals. And one of the first things the Serbian boy said during an interview with ATP was – obviously! – to be inspired by his famous countryman Novak Djokovic.

The young Serbian was drawn in the Red group together with the Frenchman Luca Van Assche, the American Alex Michelsen and the Jordanian Abedallah Shelbayh. And in the interview he underlined the influence that the world number 1 had on his sporting life.

“It was definitely something very important when I grew up to have so many good players in our country. I remember I started watching tennis when I was a child. We had Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic and they were very good.

I remember seeing them constantly. When I was a child it gave me a lot of motivation to start playing tennis and then become one of them because I saw that they could do it. They come from a small town, just like me, and that gave me a lot of motivation and confidence that I could do it too,” said Medjedovic.

Novak Djokovic a source of inspiration for Hamad Medjedovic

Then Hamad went on to describe the first time he met Novak. “I remember meeting him when I was 10, it was my birthday. I was in Belgrade and former Davis Cup captain Bogdan Obradovic worked in his academy.

I was training there and he took me to the Novak Centre. I didn’t know what would happen, but I remember Novak came and we met there for the first time. It was the first time I saw him in person and was able to talk to him. We exchanged a couple of words and I think at that moment it was the most important thing that happened in my life.

I had seen him on television and suddenly I was able to talk to him a little. It was a great opportunity,” explained the young Serbian player. He also expressed his satisfaction in participating to the Next Gen ATP Finals, highlighting his strength points “Knowing that you are in the world’s top 8 players under 21 is something very important.

Also knowing that basically whoever played before is now a good player. I won’t say a lot of good things about myself, but I think I have a great serve, a great forehand and my playing style is aggressive,” he told.