Novak Djokovic

Began playing at age four and made his pro debut at 16...Nicknamed Nole...Father, Srdjan and mother, Dijana own a pizzeria and pancake restaurant on a mountain in Serbia for last 15 years...Father, uncle and aunt were all professional skiers and his father was also an excellent soccer player...His father wanted him to be a soccer player or skier but excelled in tennis at an early age...Credits his family as inspiration for giving him so much support and says he wouldn't be able to be where he is without their help...Younger brothers Marko (born Aug. 20, 1991) and Djordje (born July 17, 1995) are both in school and play tennis...Idol growing up was Pete Sampras...At age 12, attended Niki Pilic Academy in Munich and practiced there for almost two years before returning to Belgrade...Speaks Serbian, Italian, German and English...

Favorite surface is hard courts but considers himself an all around player...Best shot is backhand down the line...As a junior, advanced to Australian Open junior singles and doubles SF (w/Jenkins) in 2004...Has a 12-4 career singles record (2-0 in doubles) in 10 Davis Cup ties since 2004...His family invited 50 underprivileged Kosovo-Serb children to Belgrade in September 2007 to be courtside for Serbia-Australia Davis Cup World Group tie... Appeared in September 2007 Vogue Magazine...Named 2006-07 ATP Most Improved Player of Year...Elected to two-year term in June 2008 to ATP Player Council...Works with physiotherapist Milan Amanovic and physical trainer Ronan Bega...Coached by former ATP pro and Slovak Republic native Marian Vajda (since June 2006).

2003 -- Won first career Futures title in third career event in Serbia & Montenegro (d. Ferrer-Victoria)...Also reached two Futures SF for 10-5 record...

2004 -- Played two Futures events in February, reaching SF at one...Won dead rubber in April Davis Cup tie against Latvia (d. Skroderis)...Won Futures title at Szolnok, Hungary (d. Tkalec)...Won first career Challenger title two weeks later in Budapest (d. Bracciali)...Qualified into first career ATP event at Umag (l. to Volandri)...Won Futures event in Beograd (d. Cipolla)...Won first career ATP match over Clement as qualifier in Bucharest to reach 2nd RD (l. to Ferrer)...Late in season, won Aachen Challenger (d. Burgsmuller)...In doubles, claimed one Futures title and reached two Challengers SF...

2005 -- The No. 1 player from Serbia finished as youngest player in Top 100 at 18 years, 5 months...Opened the season by making his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the Australian Open (l. to Safin)...In March, won a pair of Davis Cup matches against Zimbabwe, defeating Chidzikwe and Mahefu...In April, lost two Davis Cup matches against Belgium, falling to C. Rochus in five sets and Vliegen in four...

Qualified into Roland Garros and won first career Grand Slam match to reach 2nd RD, defeating Ginepri and taking the first set off Coria before retiring in the third set with breathing problems...Reached 3rd RD at Wimbledon as a qualifier, posting wins over Monaco in straight sets and Garcia-Lopez in five sets losing in four sets to Grosjean...Made ATP Masters Series debut as qualifier in Cincinnati (l. to Gonzalez)...Reached 3rd RD at US Open, winning in five sets over Monfils and four sets over Ancic before falling in five to Verdasco...Qualified into AMS Paris and reached 3rd RD with wins over Hanescu and Puerta (l. to Robredo)...

2006 -- Captured two ATP titles in three finals and finished as youngest player in year-end Top 20...Also made breakthrough in Grand Slam play with a QF at Roland Garros...After 1st RD exit at Australian Open (l. to Goldstein), reached SF in Zagreb (l. to Ljubicic) and QF in Rotterdam (l. to Stepanek) in February, falling to eventual champions in both...Went 2-5 in ATP tournaments the next three months before turning around season at Roland Garros, compiling a 17-4 record in next five tournaments...Reached first career Grand Slam QF (ret. vs. Nadal) in Paris, then advanced to 4th RD on grass at Wimbledon (l. to Ancic)...In next tournament, won Amersfoort title in first ATP final (d. Massu)...Took a nine-match winning streak into his second consecutive ATP final appearance following week in Umag, retiring with respiratory problems, up 3-1 in first-set tie-break against Wawrinka...

Returned to hard courts and reached 3rd RD at US Open (l. to Hewitt)...Went 5-1 in Davis Cup play during year, losing only to Federer in World Group playoff tie in September...Followed with his second ATP title in Metz (d. Melzer) and advanced to his first ATP Masters Series QF in Madrid with wins over Gasquet and Murray (l. to Gonzalez)...Compiled marks of 17-9 on hard, 14-5 on clay, 5-2 on carpet and 4-2 on grass...Also led ATP circuit with a 19-5 tie-break record (best pct.)...Went 2-7 vs. Top 10 opponents, defeating No. 9 Gonzalez at Roland Garros and No. 8 Robredo at Wimbledon...

2007 -- Finished as youngest player in Top 10 and compiled his best season by capturing a personal-high five ATP titles while reaching his first Grand Slam final...Also led his country into 2008 Davis Cup World Group by defeating Australia in a playoff tie...Compiled a 19-4 record in Grand Slam play (losing to Federer and Nadal twice each) and 24-7 mark in ATP Masters Series tournaments...Began season by earning his first title Down Under in Adelaide (d. Guccione) and followed with 4th RD at Australian Open (l. to Federer)...In March, reached his first AMS final in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal) and followed with title in Miami without dropping a set (d. Nadal in QF, Murray in SF, Canas in F)...Held serve 58 of 59 games throughout and afterwards went from 10 to No. 7 on Apr. 2...

On clay, picked up title in Estoril (d. Robredo in SF, Gasquet in F) and followed with QF in AMS Rome (l. to Nadal) and Hamburg (l. to Moya) and SF at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)...On grass, continued success at Wimbledon where he advanced to SF (ret. vs. Nadal with toe blister)... Compiled an 8-2 tie-break mark in six matches...In August, collected his second ATP Masters Series shield in Montreal where he posted wins over No. 3 Roddick (QF), No. 2 Nadal (SF) and No. 1 Federer (F) to become first player to defeat World's Top 3 since Boris Becker in October 1994 in Stockholm...He also became first player to beat Federer and Nadal in same tournament while they were ranked No. 1 and 2...

Made his third appearance at US Open and advanced to his first Slam final, getting past Stepanek in a four hour, 41 minute five-set marathon in 2nd RD before not dropping a set in wins over Moya (QF) and Ferrer (SF)...In title match against Federer, had five first set points and two more in second set before losing each in a tie-break....After a short break, led his country into '08 Davis Cup World Group by posting straight-set wins over Australia's Peter Luczak and Chris Guccione...In October, collected his fifth title in Vienna (d. Wawrinka) and followed with SF at AMS Madrid (l. to Nalbandian)... Lost in opening round only three times in 21 tournaments during year...

Qualified for his first Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai and went 0-3 in round robin play...Also posted a 30-13 tie-break record, one of Top 5 marks on ATP circuit...Went 6-10 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 43-12 on hard (second most wins behind Federer's 44), 18-5 on clay and 6-2 on grass...Fired a career-high 518 aces to rank No. 6 in Ricoh ATP MatchFacts.

2008 -- The young Serb finished No. 3 for a second straight season...The last player to do that was Pete Sampras in 1999-2000...Captured four titles in six finals, winning Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai as well as his first Grand Slam crown at Australian Open (d. Federer in SF, Tsonga in F)...Only dropped one set during fortnight in Melbourne, that coming in final...In March, reached SF in Dubai (l. to Roddick) and followed with title at AMS Indian Wells (d. Nadal in SF, Fish in F)...

After a 17-4 start in first three months, played well on clay (16-3) with SF at AMS Monte Carlo (ret. to Federer), won title at AMS Rome (d. Wawrinka) and reached SF at AMS Hamburg and Roland Garros (l. to Nadal both times)...Had chance to move to No. 2 in last two tournaments with a win over Nadal...On grass, advanced to final at Queen's, losing to Nadal again, before losing in 2nd RD at Wimbledon to Safin...During summer hard court circuit, reached QF at AMS Toronto, final at AMS Cincinnati (l. to Murray both times), won bronze medal at Beijing Olympics (d. Blake) and advanced to SF at US Open (l. to Federer)...

Then helped his country back into '09 Davis Cup World Group with playoff win over Slovak Republic before reaching Bangkok final (l. to Tsonga)...In final two AMS tournaments, reached 3rd RD in Madrid (l. to Karlovic) and Paris (l. to Tsonga)...Qualified for second straight Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, defeating Davydenko for the title...Compiled records of 43-12 on hard, 16-3 on clay and 5-2 on grass...Earned a career-high $5.6 million.

The Serb has won three ATP World Tour titles in a circuit-best eight finals this season and has surpassed 60 match wins for the third straight year...He picked up his first ATP World Tour title of the year on Feb. 28 in Dubai, an ATP World Tour 500 tournament, by defeating Spaniard David Ferrer…In the first month of action he advanced to the SF in Sydney (l. to Nieminen) and followed with a QF at the Australian Open where he retired vs. Roddick due to heat illness...

He returned to action in Marseille and lost to eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the SF...Played in first round Davis Cup tie against '08 champion Spain and lost to David Ferrer and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal…In March, came in as defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and lost in the QF to No. 7 Andy Roddick…Followed by reaching his second ATP World Tour final of the season at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami where he defeated No. 2 Roger Federer in the SF before falling to No. 4 Andy Murray…

The Monte-Carlo resident opened his clay court campaign by reaching the final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters with three consecutive three-set wins before losing to ATP World Tour No. 1 Rafael Nadal in three sets…It was his second straight runner-up in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament (Miami, l. to Murray)… Continued his fine form by reaching the final at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome where he beat Roger Federer in the SF before losing to Nadal 7-6(2), 6-2…Captured his hometown title in the inaugural Serbia Open, defeating Polish lucky loser Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 7-6 to capture his second ATP World Tour title of the season…Then advanced to SFs in Madrid where he lost to Nadal in a record four hour and three minute marathon (held three match points)…

Suffered his earliest loss in four years at Roland Garros as he fell to German Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets in the third round...On grass, reached final in Halle, saving five match points in 2nd Rd. win over Serra before losing to Tommy Haas in three sets…Also lost to the German in four sets in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon…

Returned after five-week break to contest the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where he lost out to Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals..In October, captured title in Beijing (d. Cilic).