Novak Djokovic’s Childhood Experience: Surviving the Bombing of Belgrade in 1999

A heavy metal gate in front of the entrance to the block of flats, of which there are thousands in Belgrade. White door, first apartment on the left. It was here that Novak Djokovic hid as a small child during the bombing of the Serbian capital in 1999.

“It didn’t happen the first night, but the second or third,” Novak Djokovic begins his story for Corriere Della Sera. “I was woken up by an explosion and the sound of breaking glass. My mother fell, hit her head on the radiator and passed out. My father shouted ‘Nole, your brothers!’ I wasn’t even 12 years old, but I was the oldest,” continues the Serbian tennis player.

“When they sounded the alarm and the planes started buzzing, we didn’t know where the bombs would land,” Djordjo, who was a friend of Djokovic’s grandfather and still lives in a neighboring block of flats, told the BBC.

Novak Djokovic grew up most of the time with his grandfather Vladimir. His parents, Srdjan and Dijana, worked outside Belgrade in a mountain resort near Kosovo. All in order to provide for their three sons, Novak, Marko and Djordje. Their grandfather lived in a two-bedroom apartment with a white front door until his death in 2012.

The tragedy that took place after the fall of Srebrenica is the biggest massacre since the Second World War. It is estimated that over 7,000 men were murdered and buried in mass graves between 12 and 16 July 1995. The remains of nearly 2,000 men and boys have already been identified. Several thousand remaining bodies have not been found to this day. Women and children also became victims of ethnic cleansing by the Serbs.

Unsuccessful interventions led to NATO forces deciding on air attacks on Belgrade. The squadrons of the alliance arrived on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with the aim of ending the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and forcing the democratization process in Yugoslavia.

One night during the bombing, the whole family fled the apartment and looked for a safe place. Novak tripped and fell to the ground, his family running in front of him. “And then it happened,” he writes in his book entitled Serve Your Victory.

“I heard something tearing up the sky behind me, like a giant snow shovel scraping ice from the clouds. Lying on the ground, I turned and looked at our house,” the Serbian tennis player recalls an unpleasant experience and adds that what he saw afterwards will remain in his memory forever.

“The steel-gray triangle of an F-117 bomber emerged above the roof of the house. I watched in horror as its huge metal belly opened directly above me and two laser-guided missiles flew out of it, aimed at my family, my friends, my surroundings. To everything I’ve ever known. I didn’t stop shaking all night.”

Novak Djokovic rarely returns to the events of years ago. However, if he decides to do so, he will describe his experiences in full detail.

“I perceive everything completely differently now. I don’t remember most of it, I was very young, I felt threatened and emotionally affected. I didn’t know what the next moment would bring for me, my brothers, my family. It was a terrifying experience for everyone, especially the children. We didn’t know what was going on,” recalls the tennis player years later.

“After about a month, however, we stopped responding to it. I remember celebrating my 12th birthday at the tennis club where I grew up and a plane flew over us during the birthday song,” adds.

“These experiences made me a champion in a way, because of them I am now stronger and more hungry for success,” concluded the most successful tennis player of today.

The bombing ended on June 10, 1999, when Yugoslav troops began withdrawing from Kosovo.

“The wounds in Serbia are still deep and in the streets of Belgrade there is widespread resentment towards NATO and the countries that make it up,” writes the BBC.

“This war was an additional motivation. Half the world was against us, our country certainly did not have a good image, and I still want to show the world that there are also good Serbs.” said Novak Djokovic at one of his post-match press conferences.

He is undoubtedly a national hero in his homeland. Serbs identify with a boy who won everything in life through hard work. Some even say that he may have an open path to the presidency in the future.

Novak Djokovic is currently fighting for his 8th title at Wimbledon. However, the pressure he feels in Grand Slam matches cannot even be compared to what he experienced as a child.

2023-07-10 15:50:00
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