Serve to Win

Novak Djokovic will probably miss competing in the US Open this year because the United States is apparently not going to allow him to enter the country over his vaccination status. An acquaintance recently pointed me at a book that Djokovic wrote back in 2013, as a window into the psyche behind his decision. Serve to Win is a mashup of an autobiography, a diet plan, and new age philosophy. The book indeed goes a long way to explaining why his current stance on vaccination is not surprising.

Early in his career, Djokovic repeatedly fell apart both mentally and physically on the court. People chalked it up to asthma or a lack of physical training. Djokovic now believes that it was due to sensitivity to gluten and other toxins in his diet. It is undeniable that ever since he implemented dramatic dietary changes, his physical conditioning improved.

Many perspectives expressed in the book are a study in contradiction. For example, Djokovic claims that tennis was unknown and rarely played in Serbia when he was a child. Yet, a few pages later, he shares how he received his initial instruction from Jelena Gencic who previously coached Yugoslavian/Serbian Monica Seles. He also trained along side Ana Ivanovic. The sport was apparently not as obscure in Serbia as he remembers.

Djokovic seems to sincerely believe that you can test for a food allergy by holding it against your belly with one hand while someone pushes down on your other arm which is extended out from the body. If the arm is weak and cannot resist the pressure, it means that the food is bad for the person. That is the initial test that convinced Djokovic that bread is bad for him.

Without even a hint of self-awareness, he follows that up with an observation that the same thing happens when substituting a mobile phone for food. He claims that the radiation from the phone causes the body to react negatively. Of course, the same physical effect will occur if you hold any object in that position, even some of the foods that he recommends in Serve to Win.

Djokovic is adamant that gluten, sugar, and other unspecified “toxins” are very bad. He even suggests that the food industry and the western medical establishment are in cahoots to maximize profit. Since the book was published almost a decade ago, some of his advice is maybe a little more exuberant than current medical research supports.

Celiac disease is a full blown allergy to gluten. According to medical sources, approximately 1% of the population has a formal diagnosis of that condition. However, a number of cases might go undiagnosed. Djokovic does not claim that he has Celiac disease, and recommends that people go to their doctor to test for gluten allergy if they think they have that condition.

An inherent distrust of western medicine permeates the book. An anecdote about how doctors “always” want to treat a headache with a pill rather than examining other lifestyle factors such as dehydration runs for several paragraphs. Djokovic’s skepticism toward pharmaceutical companies was already deeply engrained when Serve to Win was written.

Early on in the Covid crisis, Djokovic made a statement to the effect that he could purify polluted water with his mind.¹ In Serve to Win, he relayed a similar claim that if you pour water into one glass while thinking positive thoughts, and do the same in another while filled with hate and anger, that the positive glass will remain pure over time while the other will become visibly toxic.

Serve to Win is a powerful example of how one person eliminated foods that were unhealthy (and possibly allergenic) and transformed their fitness by adopting an extremely rigid diet. Most people would probably do quite well following his recommendations, though not everybody will have the resources and financial situation to be quite as fastidious.

Serve to Win delivers a large helping of health and nutrition advice with a side of fanaticism and an inherent distrust of Western Medicine. Djokovic’s refusal to take the Covid vaccination even though it means that he will miss the US Open is completely consistent with the views expressed in the book.

The book certainly provides a window into the man for anyone who is trying to understand his viewpoints on a wide variety of esoteric topics.