Novak Djokovic’s ‘painful’ sacrifice of leaving his home, family for tennis

Tennis star Novak Djokovic has spent decades travelling the world for his career — but the 24-time Grand Slam champion has now admitted that leaving his home, his wife, and his children remains just as “painful” as it was at the very beginning. Novak, 39, has had a busy few months, competing at Wimbledon, the French Open, the Italian Open, and — most recently — the Cincinnati Masters. He is now hard at work promoting a new Prime Video documentary, Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter, which premiers on August 20. Through it all, the tennis pro told People magazine in a new interview, his wife, Jelena Djokovic, has been a calming, supportive presence in his life, ensuring that their home life and children — son Stefan, 12 and daughter Tara, 8 — are taken care of, so he can continue chasing his next Grand Slam win. “She was keeping the household together, nurturing our children, and helping them also overcome — as they’ve grown older — the absence of their father, which is something that hurts me the most, even these days,” he shared. Novak, who recently relocated from Serbia to Athens, Greece, added that his absence from the family home remains incredibly “painful.” However, it has he...