London: Novak Djokovic believes the thrill of becoming a father has provided him with the perfect motivation to win yet another ATP World Tour Finals title and end the year as the world number one.
Djokovic became a father last month when his wife Jelena gave birth to a baby boy named Stefan.
While some first-time parents initially find raising a child a bewildering blur of nappy-changing and sleepless nights, Djokovic has adapted to the new arrival with few problems.
The Serb celebrated his son’s birth by returning to the court just a few days later and embarking on a triumphant run to the Paris Masters title - a success that extended his run of consecutive victories in indoor tournaments to 27 matches and left him firmly on course to hold off Roger Federer in the race to secure top spot in the end-of-year world rankings.
After such an emphatic victory in France, the world number one arrives at London’s O2 Arena for the Tour Finals, which get under way on Sunday, as strong favourite to become the first player to win the prestigious event three times in a row since Ivan Lendl in the 1980s.
“My wife and I had the blessing of becoming parents recently and it’s the most beautiful thing we can experience. First tournament after that happened was Paris and I won it without dropping a set,” said Djokovic, who opens his campaign against US Open champion Marin Cilic on Monday.
“We should be making more kids I guess! It was a fantastic week and hopefully I can follow it up.
“Of course things change psychologically when you’re playing for someone.”
Djokovic and Federer have had a sometimes prickly relationship in the past, but they have bonded over parenthood, with the Swiss father-of-four offering his rival advice on how to balance family commitments with a desire to remain competitive on the court.
“He was one of the first players who congratulated me. Of course he can identify with what I’m going through,” Djokovic said.
“We talked in China and in Paris about travelling and so forth. I took some advice from him and hopefully I can organise my life as well as he does.”
Meanwhile, Boris Becker has struck a new deal to remain coach of Djokovic, the German icon revealed in an interview with sports daily Bild on Friday.
“We have a written agreement, even if for sportsmen like us, a handshake is enough,” said the 43-year-old who has been Djokovic’s main coach since December 2013.
