A 17-time Grand Slam champion, the current World No 1 and one TennisтАЩ greatest ever, Novak Djokovic celebrates his 33rd birthday on May 22, 2020 (Thursday). Born in a war-torn Yugoslavia in 1987, Djokovic dreamt of playing tennis after watching Pete Sampras on television. The legend goes that, his tennis journey took a turn after Jelena Gencic spotted him playing tennis at the age of six outside his fatherтАЩs fast-food parlour. Genecic, famous for discovering and nurturing Monica Seles, took a young Djokovic under her wing and helped him train at her academy. She was also instrumental in sending Djokovic to Nikola PillicтАЩs academy in Germany to help his rapid development.┬аNovak Djokovic Opens About Wanting to Quit Tennis in 2010 and Fighting Back Disappointing Defeats to Become 17-Time Grand Slam Champion.

Djokovic turned professional in 2003 and made his first Grand Slam appearance in 2005 at the Australian Open where he was defeated in the first round against Marat Safin. Interestingly, Australian open was the first Grand Slam title Djokovic won after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. His win also broke the monopoly of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in Grand Slams since 2005. Both Federer and Nadal would go on to become the SerbianтАЩs fiercest rivals. The trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic is considered the big three in the tennis circuit. Take a look at some interesting facts about Novak Djokovic.

  • Novak Djokovic was born to Srdan Djokovic and dijon in Belgrade, Yugoslavia on May 22, 1987

  • Djokovic started playing tennis at the age of four and was first spotted by Jelena Gencic while playing outside his fatherтАЩs fast-food parlour at the age of 6

  • Novak Djokovic is multi-lingual and can converse fluently in Serbian, English, French, German, and Italian

  • Djokovic is the first Serbian to be ranked world no 1 and first male player representing Serbia to win a grand slam title

  • Novak Djokovic is the eighth player to achieve a career grand slam and third menтАЩs player to hold all major titles at once

  • Djokovic is the only menтАЩs player in the open era and only second in Tennis history after AustraliaтАЩs Ken Rosewall to win a grand slam title in three different decades

  • Djokovic is a dog lover and takes his pet тАШPoodle PierreтАЩ everywhere he goes including tennis tournaments

  • Novak Djokovic is a member of тАШChampions for PeaceтАЩ club, a group of several elite athletes committed to serving peace across the world through sport

  • Djokovic is a fan of Serbian club Red Star Belgrade, Italian Club AC Milan and PortugalтАЩs FC Benfica

The Serbian has to date won eight Australian Open titles тАУ the most by any the open era -- five Wimbledon, three US Open and one French Open Grand Slam. His count of 17 grand slam trophies makes his the third most decorated menтАЩs tennis player in history after Federer (20) and Nadal (19). In addition to those he has also won five ATP Finals titles, 34 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles and 14 ATP Tour 500 titles. He is the only male player to win all nine masters 1000 tournaments.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 22, 2020 07:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).