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We can't affect what happens, but we can affect our reaction to it.

Probably 80% of the victory or the job is done before you actually come on the court.

Anything that becomes a routine really becomes part of you, so repetition is very important to tap into your subconscious and start reprogramming yourself.

If he's more than just an athlete, then I must meet this guy.

Being able to share love with my wife and everything you experience in life with your partner is something that brought a lot of joy, inner peace, and success later on in my life. She's probably the only serious relationship I ever had.

Nobody has touched a racket before me in my family, so I don't have any tradition to inherit to play tennis. Tennis was never a big sport in our country. I was very fortunate to meet, that same year or the year after, my tennis mother – Jelena Genčić. She greatly influenced my tennis career and my life. My parents were really kind, and they trusted her to have influence off the court on me as well, which is tricky to do as a parent. Especially if you have a child that young, as a parent you believe that you have everything the child needs to help him develop into a mature and healthy human being. As a parent, you always think, "Who is going to be the mentor of my child?" Both my mom and dad were really happy with the quality of the person that Jelena Genčić was. She used to train with Monica Seles, so she was probably the best person I could have had at that stage. She saw me right away and said, "You have great talent." She told my parents, "This kid can be number one in the world."

I usually don't like to play with "what if" questions because I believe that everything in life happens with a reason and for a reason. We, as human beings, like to have control of our environment, where we live, what we're going to do, and our experiences. This was completely taken away from us during the Balkan Wars. There was this higher power from above that could do anything to anybody, and you could be collateral damage any minute.

After the first war to the second war, the whole country had an embargo, so there was no import. There was a lack of gas for cars, bread, and milk. There were lines of people, long queues, and you had to wait hours to get bread. All these different things that happened made me, my family, and all the Serbian people more resilient and tougher. That's what war does, but at the same time, I'm really grateful that I've been through this experience, through wars in the '90s, because it made me more human and connected with other people. Whatever happens in the world, I know that we are all going through the experience of trying to live and take the best out of life. I think going through those emotions and experiences in the past allowed me to be more warm-hearted towards people.

The biggest lesson that I've learned is that I should always be kind to anyone and everyone, no matter what experience they go through, because you never know what one person is going through. If there is something positive, it's that people survived, and we got through it as a country because we were united.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. Whatever in life you envision to do, you must be disciplined—spiritually, in sports, in your family, and in your relationships. Very early, my parents and my tennis mother, Jelena Genčić, deeply ingrained that discipline in me. Already at 7 or 8, I knew this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

From very early stages of my life, I knew what I wanted to do, but not just what I wanted to do, but what I wanted to achieve. Because I had these objectives in life, I managed to have mental clarity. In tennis, Andre Agassi, who is my coach now, always says, "In tennis, you work from the top backwards." You set up a goal and work your way back. You know exactly how the whole season is going to look because you know your season goal. Then you work your way back to this moment.

I had plenty of doubts and doubtful moments. The one that stands out the most was back in 2010 when I was already number three in the world, a Grand Slam winner, and an established player in the top five in the world for 3 or 4 years. I had won my first Grand Slam in the Australian Open in January 2008 when I was 20 years old. It was a dream come true. I was very successful in my junior days, and I had an upward spiral in my tennis career. Everything was great. Then, all of a sudden, I had this period of two and a half to three years where I didn't win a slam. I was managing to be 3 or 4 in the world, but I struggled a lot. For me, being number three in the world wasn't enough; I was not satisfied with that.

I love holding a racket in my hand, whether it's a Grand Slam Center Court final or just a normal public court. I still like playing for the sake of playing. They told me, "That's your source, that's what you need to tap into." It took a little time, but literally the next day, I was back on track. Let's go, let's keep going, and I never looked back since that moment. I was playing for the wrong reasons. I wanted to achieve, lift trophies, and do this and that. That's okay, but that's secondary. The primary motivation needs to be what inspired you to start playing, what made you fall in love with the sport, and that is the love, joy, and passion for it.

The thing I love about my wife the most is honesty and compassion. We, as men, can't even imagine what women go through, especially women who experience becoming a mother. Going through pregnancy is another level of sacrifice, pain, love, and dedication to family and what matters the most. Having her in my life is one of the biggest blessings I could ever ask for. To this day, I try to remind myself of what I have and how grateful I am.

Live freely, breathe deeply, and love fully — simple, and it really comes to that. It comes to being one with yourself and others, and just being present. If I have to pick one of those three, the biggest and most simple lesson that I've learned in my life is to breathe deeply and to learn how to breathe. When you learn how to breathe, which is something we take for granted, you learn how to live in the moment and be mindful of yourself. You suddenly observe things from a different perspective. You are not as impulsive, and everything opens up. We talked about it a minute ago—nature is there, the universe is there, something is out there watching, supporting, and loving us. But if we close our doors and live in a shell, how can we receive help? You have to open some windows and doors, and eventually have no shell. Live with no shell, be authentic, be original, pave your own path. Don't just follow the paths that society tells you to. We need more creativity, more innovations, and more people who are free. Today's society is shaping us to be a bit robotic—you have to do this, pay that, follow this, take that. Try to understand what's the best experience for you, and at the same time, live freely and share it.

My definition of greatness is purpose. If you find your purpose, you're going to give purpose to others. You and I, as public figures, have this responsibility even more. Whatever level of society you are on or whatever experience you go through, you are going to maximize your life's experience only if you find a purpose. People will find their purpose because they will relate to the very same purpose that you are defining, radiating, and portraying.

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