Tennis star and 20-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic visited the Serbia Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday, ahead of workshops run by his charity organisation.
Excited young fans gathered to watch the World no. 1’s arrival, prior to his tour of the pavilion, rushing to get a picture or two. Djokovic stopped at a number of exhibits inside, and spent time playing with a VR headset.
The Novak Djokovic Foundation, which was started 15 years ago, focuses on early childhood development in Serbia and ensuring young children are able to go to kindergarten. The organisation has helped open 50 pre-school facilities, assisting 50,000 children so far.
Jelena Djokovic, Novak Djokovic Foundation co-founder and Global Director, stressed the importance of investing in children: “Once upon a time [Novak] was a child who had a dream and thanks to a few people who recognised that dream, he can now touch millions of people around the world… [We might have] another child who might touch, not maybe millions, but thousands of people throughout their life so, if we instil good values in a child from an early age when their brain is developing at a very exponential rate, and [consider] every moment we use with a child as important – I don’t think we can go wrong with that.”
The first workshop, “Support, NOT Perfection” was aimed at parents, providing them with a space in which they could share their experiences and dilemmas as responsible guardians, and receive advice on new guidelines and recommendations.
The second programme, “Path of a Champion”, was aimed at empowering and educating the parents of future athletes, stating that every child is a champion, regardless of what they will do later in life. It also focused on how sport should primarily be a game and aid a healthy way of growing up.
Novak Djokovic said: “Parents are parents and they should let coaches and mentors do their job… it’s all a ‘triangle’ at all times. So, it’s important not to exclude the parent but it’s important also for a parent to know where the borders are. There should be this healthy relationship and communication [between coaches and parents], which will enable the child to flourish and to excel because the child should feel happy, because in the end 99.9 per cent of children who pick up the tennis racket have done that because they fell in love with the sport, not because they want to earn money.”
