In a recent interview, Novak Djokovic revealed how tough it is for him to spend so much time away from his family.
Even if Djokovic is usually accompanied by his family, that is still a poor length of time to be away from the game. He spends much of his tennis season away from his family; this was also the case during the last Australian Open.
Every day that passes without him spending time with the growing children makes him feel guilty since he wants to be there for them. Though being a professional tennis player has always required sacrifices, he still wants to be engaged.
In an interview with The Today Show in Australia, he talked about his feelings of being apart from his family.
“As time passes, I do find that to be more and more difficult. It’s a lengthy trip to Australia, maybe the longest we take all year. My daughter is six and my son is nine, and they both change every day and every week.”
Djokovic cannot bring back every day that goes since none of us can ever get our days back. During the conversation, he even became pretty emotional, expressing how much he misses playing with his children, which is his favorite thing in the world.
“Dads should always play with their kids. That’s my favorite time of the day, really—that moment when we are really present, I have their attention and they have mine, and we play and make things. It’s the finest. I’ll see them in a few days, but I’m getting sad right now because I miss them.”
That’s one of the factors that many believe would force him to retire early, despite the fact on the tennis court, he still appears to be in excellent shape.
