Novak Djokovic has given an emotional account of his time meeting refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria.
The former world No.1 and 12-time Grand Slam champion was appearing on Lewis Howes’ School of Greatness podcast.
Djokovic, a UNICEF ambassador and who lived through the Balkans war as a child of the 1990s, met with Syrian refugees who were given shelter as they made their trek across Europe after fleeing their homeland.
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Belgrade was a city that many refugees travelled through as they headed for countries such as Germany and Austria, and Djokovic recalled his time with many of them when he visited a hotel lobby which had been converted to a refuge.
“She (a child) told me her mum came to pick her up and ‘It’s time to go’. I thought to myself, ‘Where are they gonna go? What’s gonna happen? Even today it’s so emotional. Even to this day, I don’t know where they went,” Djokovic explained.
“They’re travelling by foot, God knows where. No home. No nothing. I was supposed to say something in the camera and I said, ‘Guys, I can’t speak.’ I couldn’t speak because it was just one of those things that breaks your heart.”
Djokovic has not played since Wimbledon as he continued to rehabilitate an elbow injury.
He is expected to make his comeback at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in late December as he gears up for Australian Open 2018.
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