Novak Djokovic’s son Stefan stole the show at Wimbledon during his father’s clash with Yibing Wu on Centre Court. The 24-time Grand Slam challenge was finding it difficult against his Chinese opponent late in the third set.
The pair were tied at 1-1 4-4 when Djokovic became fed up of the partisan crowd chanting “Wuuuuuu”. Those in attendance clearly wanted a five-set thriller that was already going late into the night.
However Djokovic, as we have seen him do many times before at SW19, turned it up a notch when he felt the crowd were against him. He held serve to take a 5-4 lead and put his finger to his ear to react.
Meanwhile in his corner, 11-year-old son Stefan, up way past his usual bed time, celebrated wildly. He stated with a first bump before swinging his arm back and forth in sheer jubilation while screaming.
BBC commentator Andrew Cotter said: “[Chuckles] Stefan! Like father like son. Easy Stefan.
And John McEnroe added: “That is impressive energy. Carlos started that but a lot of guys are following in his footsteps.”
Stefan is an avid tennis player himself and regularly takes to the practice courts with his father when they attend tournaments together. However, Novak, 39, is not putting any pressure on his son to follow in his footsteps.
“I’m not forcing him to play tennis. I never did that. Not a single day have I told him you have to do this,” Djokovic has previously explained.
“It’s really purely his own desire to step on the court. Of course, I’ll be thrilled if he plays tennis. He shouldn’t feel any of the pressure or expectations yet, even though he’s going to because it’s part of his family I guess.”
He added: “Obviously we had a chat about the routines and the things he should do. You have to speak in their language about things that I feel like it could help him.
“He was showing me forehands and backhands, how he’s going to move tomorrow, kind of shadowing, playing shadow tennis.
“I try to take that energy, childish energy, and fuel my inner child because I tend to forget about my inner child a lot. Everything is so serious. It’s your profession. It’s your job.”