My father had to turn to loan sharks from the mafia," reveals Djokovic

Novak Djokovic shared with a Serbian media outlet one of his first trips to the United States for a few tournaments to kickstart his young career.

The trip was expensive for the Serb, who couldn’t afford it at the time. He revealed how he managed to go: "The trip cost around $5,000; it was impossible to have that kind of money back then.

My father had to turn to loan sharks, the mafia. He explained the situation, admitted we were in a hurry, and they charged him 30% interest. My father agreed, but there are unbelievable stories from that time.

We faced a lot of problems; he even had a car accident, but he was eventually able to pay it back.