Andy Roddick knows Novak Djokovic very well, having played against him many times and he's still amazed by the transformation he had over the course of his career.
Novak Djokovic wasn't projected to be as good as he ultimately became, but you could tell rather quickly that there was plenty of good stuff there. His biggest struggle initially in his career was his body which broke down far too quickly.
He detailed some of those struggles in his book, where he talked about realizing that he had a problem during a match against Tsonga. The French player was thriving in a 5th set while he was falling apart. Roddick remembers that version of Djokovic well as he talked about it for Betway.
Novak's progression, just on the physical side, has been unlike anything I've seen in pro sports. When I used to match up against Djokovic – and I had a solid record against him – I wanted to keep him out there, I wanted to extend rallies. Now, that's a surefire way to lose.
The way that he's taken care of his body, not just from a training standpoint, but from a dietary standpoint, has left no stone unturned. He's been such a professional throughout the years.
To take a weakness in your game and make it a strength is very hard. Mostly because some of the weaknesses are something innate to a player and it's not something you can fix as easily. The one for Djokovic was very fixable and he did everything in his power to fix it. It worked and he ultimately became today's version, a player whom many consider without weaknesses.
He took a weakness and turned it into one of the biggest strengths that we've seen in professional tennis. I give him so much credit for that. It will be weird for the tennis universe when Novak moves on. We've become almost entitled to watching the greatness of these players for so long now.
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