Shadowing Practice: Discipline Changes Everything | Best Motivational Speech | Novak Djokovic - Learn English Speaking with Video

Not having success is not an option.

Like I have to succeed.

It's basically a matter of existence, a survival of my family.

When you want to change a certain habit, science says it takes at least 21 days, right?

For the brain to start growing new neurons that are reprogramming.

But if you don't have the right environment, that's going to be very, very challenging.

The environment is the one that can be very stimulative to you.

It can be really supportive or it can be pulling you down.

So it's super important, even though we always encourage ourselves to be independent in terms of what we do, what we eat, how we sleep,

how we lead our lives and what we do

and how we can live the best version of our lives possible

but at the same time we are social beings we are very tribal beings

and even if it's a smallest community we still want to belong to

that community we still want this community to support us even

if it's one person or two

but it's super important in the end of the day

because you know making tough choices these are tough choices

because society when you go out there you know super majority of the places where you go to eat

or people that you see it's a kind of a vicious cycle

and they lead their life in a certain way

that maybe doesn't coincide or correspond to your choices that you want to make, the new choices or maybe the new changes.

So it's really hard.

I feel like it's reinventing yourself constantly.

For me, I've had this kind of upbringing, had the great foundation and I've achieved incredible things.

I was dreaming of becoming number one in the world and becoming a Wimbledon champion and that That was my dream.

I achieved that dream within two days.

I won Wimbledon and at the same day became number one in the world.

It's just, you know, once in a lifetime type of experience.

And when you do something for the first time, obviously that big, it's just like you're flying to the moon.

I mean, you're not, it's a kind of an out-of-body experience.

So, of course, it was kind of a surreal experience for me and I tried to enjoy it and embrace it.

But at the same time, I felt like, okay, it's great to share the court with these guys, but I want to beat them.

You know, I want to get the biggest titles.

I want to be number one.

I want to dominate.

So I think that the first kind of that wave

that I was riding on helped me to win my first slam when I was 19.

I won a couple of big tournaments and so forth.

I reached the number two in the world.

But, you know, I still wasn't number one.

And then I had a three-year period.

I didn't win a slam.

I was winning some big tournaments, but I couldn't win a slam.

These two guys were beating me in every big match, Feather and Nadal.

I changed rackets, team members.

I did everything I can to kind of find the right formula.

And I was struggling physically as well.

I wasn't, you know, that's where actually I had my transformative journey nutrition-wise,

where I took everything started going in the upwards direction for me

and learning also from these guys and the matches

that we've played against each other was something that was extremely important for me at that time.

I was, of course, trying to consume as much as I can this energy of the center court and everything, and it was overwhelming at times,

but I was also very thorough in my analysis of the matches afterwards,

even though I don't necessarily like to watch matches that I lost, But you know, Kobe Bryant used to talk about this a lot.

And when I was talking to him personally about that, he would, and he said,

even if it's just specific intervals of the match that you lost, that you want to watch,

that you definitely look at that.

And you need to analyze that.

And you need to go through that cramping feeling.

because that's where you learn from those mistakes and that's where you have an opportunity to rectify that

the next tournament or next match and so forth.

So that helped a lot.

I have identified that as well is my feeling of not being enough.

And that goes back to my very, very beginning of my life and my relationship, particularly with my father.

And not being, not doing enough, not being good enough.

etc etc so and it's kind of the battle that I

that I also go through often

because a lot of people I've even closest people in my

life ask me you know what more do you want you

know you have achieved everything what do you want what why why do you keep going

and I tell them the good part that I told you

that I still really strongly feel it's inside of me

and I feel like as long as I have the capacity

or ability to compete for the biggest titles you know in my sport, I want to keep going.

And also, partly the part that I didn't mention

that inspires me to keep going is to test my limits mentally and physically.

Because when I was starting to break through into professional tennis, I remember when you reach your 30,

you start counting your days to your retirement.

Like after 30, you know, that's it pretty much.

It's also a kind of a curiosity from my side how

how far can i go you know i'm i'm 38 this

year you know how long can i push my own limits

and i don't feel like i do have limits and i feel like the limits are normally

constructs in our mind i've seen the episode you did with brian johnson the other day

and then he talked about you know he's by a lot of people's opinion very extreme

but you know he dedicated his own entire life to getting the data

and understanding what are the best conditions for the longest living life

that he can have for himself which i think it's something

that is admirable and you know i give him huge credit for

that and i understand because as a professional athlete you know the care for your body

and your mind and the devotion to the daily habits is so tough.

That's where it started

and I was like I was really trying to adapt all of the great things

that I could see and I have a kind of a photogenic memory

and I'm a very visual person and that was something

that was kind of expected

that is kind of common as well what you do with kids you know

or with young athletes right you watch videotapes you try to analyze try to talk

but you know so it taught me to really understand

100

that tennis is not only about hitting a tennis ball over the net

101

and counting score and dreaming about these achievements

102

and winning Wimbledon as our holy grail of tennis

103

but it's more than that and I can use tennis as a platform to evolve into a better human being.

104

At that point I didn't understand that but then as I was growing older

105

and becoming more mature I started to understand the importance of doing all of these

106

and I started to expand on each of these topics that I was going through with her.

107

So I'm very curious by nature, so I was really always looking for new ways to improve myself and improve my life on this planet, you know?

108

And I was very lucky to basically have that space also from my parents.

109

It's a kind of a self-discovery through the self-care, through tennis really consumed most of my life.

110

But I'm still surprising and shocking myself on how much I actually need to still work on that.

111

And I still, quote-unquote, don't know enough about that world.

112

And it was really hard for me to accept that.

113

You know, I thought, you know, since 10, I basically started working on that and growing the foundation.

114

But it has evolved and has transformed so much for me in terms of how I see myself, how I see the world.

115

And I thought, you know, maybe when I was at the peak of my career and,

116

you know, I felt like I'm unbeatable and I feel like I could do anything.

117

You know, I'm kind of walking on the water.

118

We all experience that in our own lives in certain ways and it's a great feeling.

119

But then the ego takes you places where it's hard to come back from.

120

And maybe you shouldn't come back from that.

121

Maybe you're trying to find the balance, find the optimal measure that really works for you.

122

But it took me time to really accept the fact that what I have learned, what I have mastered,

123

and what I'm doing on a daily basis for the last 20 years

124

or more is not necessarily a guarantee that I'll always find a way

125

and that will always work for me in this particular time of my life and circumstances that I'm facing.

126

So that's a huge revelation for me because, and I'm still trying to get a grasp on it

127

and understand all of these factors that are in play that are challenging me on a daily basis.

128

And when I talk from this perspective, it's a beautiful journey that I'm trying to embrace.

129

But when you are immersed in the dark moment, it's kind of hard to really get out of that.

130

But also the athletes and how, you know, the struggles they had mentally and particularly the struggles

131

that they had if they have not prepared themselves for that transition.

132

I believe that in some way you cannot fully prepare yourself for that transition mentally.

133

Like it's going to be a sad day for me

134

when I leave tennis and it's going to be very emotional and all that.

135

But what I'm talking about is basically the adrenaline.

136

That also needs to be filtered or rechanneled somewhere.

137

And I know that I will play sports for the rest of my life

138

because I love sports and being active is essential.

139

but also I feel like you need a challenge.

140

Tennis has consumed most of my life and that's what I know how to do best.

141

But I have very broad interest in a lot of different things

142

and the industry or the sphere of life which is called health,

143

wellness and well-being is my biggest passion and it's a very broad ecosystem or field if you want, as you know because you're part of it

144

but it has been my passion for 15 plus years

145

and you know always imagine the world where most of the

146

people will take care of themselves of you know how they

147

hydrate how they eat exercise how they manage their sleep just the healthier world

148

and of course it's it's hard to change everything at the same time

149

and it of course takes a lot of different because this planet is big and there's a lot of people,

150

but I think taking small steps is very valuable and it has its effect.

151

And the idea is that you're always on a battlefield and as you said, on the battlefield, you see the best of yourself and the worst of yourself.

152

And often people said that to me when I moved to LA, everyone's like, why do you want to be in LA?

153

There's so much materialism, there's so much illusion here.

154

And I said, well, actually, I feel like I'm on the battlefield here.

155

So I see the best of myself and I see the worst of myself.

156

And the worst of myself reminds me to keep going and to keep working on myself.

157

And the best of myself allows me to share my message with the biggest megaphone in the world.

158

And so it's that dichotomy of actually when you're looking for spiritual growth,

159

you want to be in a place that reminds you of your weaknesses as much as your strength.

160

Because if you are only reminded of your strength, you just have your ego.

161

And if you were only reminded of your weaknesses, well then you would be depressed or disheartened.

162

But son, it's okay to be bored sometimes.

163

First of all, you had a great active morning and you did a lot of things.

164

Second of all, when you're bored, it doesn't mean that you have to instantly take a book or a screen or anything else.

165

You need to also learn how to be with your thoughts.

166

And if you're not comfortable being bored indoors, go outdoors.

167

Sit on a chair and have some drink and just look at the sky.

168

And I think that's much easier said than done.

169

And I really would love my children to be able to be okay with being bored

170

because that's the time when you're actually most creative

171

or that's the time when you can manage your thoughts and everything that you have been suppressing by distracting yourself with phone, with whatever it is.

172

You know, it's a struggle, but it's important.

173

You know, I think it's super important, particularly for them at this young age to think that it has been talked about a lot.

174

Yeah, I agree.

175

Why is it that our sports are so popular?

176

Why is it that people relate to athletes?

177

It's because of this grit, because of this battle.

178

We all go through internal battle on a daily basis.

179

And in sports, we can, of course, admire the features of an athlete,

180

and the skills, and the talent, and the abilities.

181

But at the same time, we also identify ourselves with those athletes.

182

You feel like, wow, you know, this game or a match,

183

it's in a way a condensed daily life or a condensed life into an hour, two or three, where you start at the beginning,

184

you're even, then you end up winning or losing but in the process of journey of the match and the game,

185

you're going through ups and downs, and particularly in individual sports, you mentioned Lewis Hamilton, another great legend.

186

You're going through that battle of trying to win that inner battle where you go through your doubts, your worries, your fears.

187

So all of these elements are part of everyday life of everyday person.

188

And that's why I feel like people relate to sports.

189

And also when they go to see sport live particularly, but also when they watch it on TV,

190

I feel they're able because they are so connected to the community of that club or that athlete or whatever it is.

191

They feel like all of their problems stop at least for those hour,

192

two, three hours that they are watching where they feel like they can free themselves of the emotions

193

and the burdens that are kind of wearing them down.

194

But I can see that there's a lot of people that are like, that's why after a game they either feel drained or they feel energized.

195

They either feel like they've kind of collected that energy from the stadium

196

or they feel like they're completely like a deflated balloon.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Discipline Changes Everything | Best Motivational Speech | Novak Djokovic - Learn English Speaking with Video

Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?