Novak Djokovic: The Sporting Statesman - Tapa dura

In this study of both Djokovic and Serbia, Chris Bowers paints two powerful portraits. He traces the story of the boy from modest surroundings, telling of how he met the woman who not only taught him tennis but how to deal with life as a high-profile icon, charts his battle with illness and his relationship with a volatile father, and how his on-court deeds have made his country proud. But he also tells the story of Serbia, pulling no punches about its role in the 1990s wars but offering a sensitive interpretation of the hopes and aspirations of a people with a troubled past. Bowers, biographer of Swiss tennis star Roger Federer and the British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, weaves together these sporting and geo-political strands to present a sensitive portrait of a man and his people, and how determination married to sensitivity can create a sporting statesman.

Chris Bowers is a freelance writer and broadcaster who has covered the global tennis scene for more than 20 years. He is best known as a commentator for European sports television channel Eurosport but also appears on the American sports channel ESPN and various radio stations around the world. He has written several books on tennis, including the biography of Roger Federer, but also The Book of Tennis, the International Tennis Federation's centenary commemorative book, and four Davis Cup yearbooks. He is also active in the environmental and political fields, and in 2011 wrote the biography of Nick Clegg, the leader of the British Liberal Democrats and deputy prime minister. He is the son of a refugee, and lives with his daughter in East Sussex, England.