Novak Djokovic's 11-year-old son, Stefan, stole the limelight at Wimbledon during his father's first-round encounter with Yibing Wu on Centre Court. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was struggling against his Chinese opponent late in the third set, locked at 1-1, 4-4, when Djokovic grew frustrated with the partisan crowd chanting "Wuuuuuu." Those in attendance clearly wanted a five-set epic that was already stretching late into the evening.
Djokovic Responds to Crowd
However, Djokovic, as he has done on countless occasions before at SW19, raised his game when he sensed the crowd was against him. He held serve to edge ahead 5-4 and put his finger to his ear in response. Meanwhile, in his box, 11-year-old Stefan, up well beyond his usual bedtime, celebrated wildly. He began with a fist bump before swinging his arm back and forth in pure elation, screaming.
BBC commentator Andrew Cotter said: "[Chuckles] Stefan! Like father, like son. Easy Stefan.." And John McEnroe added: "That is impressive energy. Carlos started that, but a lot of guys are following in his footsteps."
Stefan's Tennis Passion
Stefan is a keen tennis player himself and regularly joins his father on the practice courts when they attend tournaments together. However, Novak, 39, is not placing any pressure on his son to follow in his footsteps. "I'm not forcing him to play tennis. I never did that. Not a single day have I told him you have to do this," Djokovic has previously explained. "It's really purely his own desire to step on the court. Of course, I'll be thrilled if he plays tennis. He shouldn't feel any of the pressure or expectations yet, even though he's going to because it's part of his family, I guess."
He added: "Obviously, we had a chat about the routines and the things he should do. You have to speak in their language about things that I feel like it could help him. He was showing me forehands and backhands, how he's going to move tomorrow, kind of shadowing, playing shadow tennis. I try to take that energy, childish energy, and fuel my inner child because I tend to forget about my inner child a lot. Everything is so serious. It's your profession. It's your job."
