How to Up Your Performance and Your Game

Novak Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open last year. He was 36 years old at the time, becoming the oldest male champion in the Open Era history. Djokovic secured his victories throughout the tournament by defeating players ten to fifteen years younger which is astonishing at the professional level.
Novak accomplished this amazing feat, against a deep and talented group of young pros including Alcaraz (21), Sinner (22), Shelton (21), and Medvedev (28) all of whom on paper had presumably more gas in the tank with a major youth advantage.

How does this relate? Novak had to reinvent himself into a different player. Ten years ago, Djokovic was the number two ranked player in the world behind Rafael Nadal (who was twenty-six). During that time, Djokovic’s focus was more on building endurance and agility through traditional training methods. This was the norm for players on the tour, where the youth would eventually catch up with the top veterans who would inevitably succumb to injuries (ex. Roger Federer’s knee operation in 2020) and gracefully bow out of the tour.

Tennis is arguably one of the longest, mentally grueling seasons in all professional sports running from January (Australian Open) until November (Nitto ATP Finals in Italy). Novak’s personal goals changed as he shared publicly, he wanted to see himself playing at the same elite level in his late 30’s. Novak’s current conditioning and diet reflects a meticulous approach and focus to maintaining his elite athletic performance. His diet, which has been a crucial component of his success over the past decade, emphasizes gluten-free and dairy-free foods. Djokovic shared the change made him feel lighter, sleep better, and sustain high energy levels throughout the day for his matches. This resulted in massive success, despite his age gap with the best on tour. Today, his regimen also includes modern techniques like recovery pods, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to enhance mental toughness alongside physical fitness.

When interviewed after his U.S. Open victory, Novak shared that “even if you find the right formula, it may not work tomorrow” and spoke about the importance of adaptability, self-improvement and the ability to reinvent yourself, even if you are at the top. In business, there is always the continuous threat of new competition that is leaner, faster, or more adaptable to change. Even more dangerous when business is doing well and the bravado that nothing will stop it. Like Novak’s challenges of new younger entrants to claim Grand Slam titles, leaders must be willing to go outside the box of “This is the way we’ve always done it” to the discovery of improvement from their current reality and making positive change.

The 2024 French Open is about to get underway at Roland Garros and Novak will be playing as the number one men’s singles draw and playing to defend his 2023 Grand Slam title. (Tennis365)​​ (Eurosport)​​

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