Pitch's Sports Book Of The Week

Searching for Novak by Mark Hodgkinson. Beginning in a basement bomb shelter in Banjica in downtown Belgrade where a young Novak grew up...

Heading into this year’s Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic may not have been the first name on everyone’s lips, with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner amongst the pre-tournament favourites, but despite now being thirty-eight Djokovic has continued to compete while his fellow golden generation opponents of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray have all hung up the tennis racquets in recent years. The incentive going into the tournament was to scoop a record-equalling eighth men’s singles Wimbledon title to match rival Federer and bolster his record twenty-four Grand Slam titles. Succeed or no, Djokovic has proven himself to be an incredible tennis player, a fierce competitor and a unique character. So as the curtain falls on Wimbledon 2025, it’s the perfect time to pick up Mark Hogkinson’s genuinely excellent analysis of the Serbian superstar and discover, as the book alludes to, the man behind the enigma.

Beginning in a basement bomb shelter in Banjica in downtown Belgrade where a young Novak grew up, the author forensically dissects all the pivotal moments in Djokovic’s history. There are really fascinating insights into the character of the adolescent tennis ace and the singular course of his career, complemented by the words of the coaches, friends, mentors and rivals who have witnessed his journey first-hand. To learn about Novak Djokovic is to uncover a deeply intriguing personality, sometimes polarising, often obsessive, always striving, someone who has pushed the barriers and embraced new ways of thinking and doing in all aspects of his life, whether that be in his penchant for ‘pyramid water’ or ‘the analytics of the sport’. Regardless of what tennis fans make of the methods or the man, Djokovic’s achievements speak for themselves and Hodgkinson’s book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most misunderstood of tennis’s Big Three.