When Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena tried their hand at ballet dancing

Novak Djokovic once spoke about his love of ballet dancing, an activity that he preferred doing together with his wife Jelena so that they could spend time together amidst the hectic tennis tour.

During the 2015 Indian Wells Open, the World No. 1 shared a photo of him and his wife trying their hands at ballet, where the Serb could be seen holding her by the waist and lifting her up into the air.

During his press conference at the tournament, Djokovic was naturally asked about the image, with journalists wondering what he thought about the experience. The 24-time Grand Slam champion revealed that Jelena had been practicing for a couple of years, while he was just trying to catch up with her.

The 36-year-old was more interested in what he could pick up from his ballet sessions and use for his own physical preparation in tennis. He jokingly added that he only really understood the rigorous demands of ballet after getting into it himself.

“Well, I have been trying to keep up. My wife has been doing more than me in the last couple of years. Every once in a while she does it. I joined, and I really enjoyed that ballet session that we had, so I will pick up a few things and use it for my own, you know, physical preparation. I think it’s great,” Djokovic said.

“I think people underestimate what ballet dancers are really doing and how much effort and energy they have to put in in dancing and creating such a gracious and beautiful looking moves, you know, with the music and everything. It’s really an art. Now when I have actually done a whole session, I respect it even more,” he added.

“I used to like watching ballet, and now I’m even enjoying it being on the dancing part” – Novak Djokovic

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Novak Djokovic emphasized that he had always enjoyed watching ballet dancers, and that he had begun enjoying the artform even more now that he had firsthand experience of the dance.

With it also serving as an opportunity for him and his wife to spend some “quality time” together, he hoped it would become a recurrence in their lives.

“I used to like watching ballet, and now I’m even enjoying it being on the dancing part. So we will see. We’ll see. We like doing it. I did it because, you know, I wanted to spend some quality time with my wife, and I think that’s something that maybe we as a couple can do more often in the future,” Djokovic said.

On the tennis side of things, the World No. 1 went on to defend his title at Indian Wells that year, defeating Roger Federer in a repeat of last year’s final.