Djokovic was born to parents Srdjan and Diana in the city of Belgrade, which was then part of Yugoslavia but now is the capital of Serbia. Novak has two younger brothers, Marko and Djorde, who also play quần vợt with aims to become professional.

The 1990s were a turbulent decade in the Balkans and Serbs were được trao a bad reputation throughout Châu Âu and the world. Djokovic’s aspiration was not only to become a great quần vợt player but to be a positive representative of his country on an international level. He stated that: “The war also made me a better quần vợt player because I swore to myself that I’d prove to the world that there are good Serbs too.”
Djokovic began playing quần vợt at the age of 4 and early on showed great promise in the sport. At the age of six he was discovered bởi Jelena Gencic, a highly successful Serbian quần vợt player, who became his coach for the tiếp theo six years.

Gencic was impressed bởi the young player’s natural talent and hardworking nature and realized it would be in Djokovic’s best interest to di chuyển abroad to train. At the age of 12 Djokovic moved to Oberschleissheim, Germany to continue his training at the Pilic quần vợt Academy with Nikola Pilic where he remained for four years.