Tennis great Novak Djokovic (L) and director Jason Hehir speak onstage during the “Novak Djokovic: The Wolf In Winter” World Premiere at MOMA on July 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Prime Video)
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When titling a film about who Novak Djokovic is right now, director Jason Hehir thought about a four-letter word that’s also the name of a four legged animal covered in fur. But it’s not the word that many may think of first when considering Djokovic, the man who has already won more singles Grand Slam tennis championships (24) than any other man ever. No, the word that eventually made it to the title of this latest Hehir-directed film was “wolf”—as in Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter. And watching this film that debuted August 20 on Prime video will give you more insight into how the 39-years-old Djokovic has maintained his remarkable tennis career longevity and where the wolf still has the mental, emotional and physical edges to win the 2026 U.S. Open.
Novak Djokovic: Wolf In Winter Represents Where Djokovic Is Right Now
The wolf, by the way, is the national animal of Serbia, Djokovic’s home country, revered for its courage, cunning and a fierce independent spirit whereas “Winter” could describe where Djokovic is currently in his overall professional tennis playing career, which began in 2003. Djokovic is physically not exactly a Spring chicken anymore. And Hehir—who had directed the 2020 film The Last Dance that focused on Michael Jordan’s final 1997-1998 season with the Chicago Bulls—did recently emphasize to me, “We said ‘Let’s make a movie about this guy’ but with the condition that we’re going to make a movie about a moment in time, in his life. We’re not going to try and tell the definitive life story of Novak Djokovic not the least of which reason is that it’s still going on.”
If you do end up having a long successful career in anything, you will likely eventually face the Winter of it—which as exhibited in the play and film The Lion in Winter is when your abilities, skills and standing have eroded with age and adversity. Such a season can prompt others to constantly wonder and even ask when you are yielding the throne. And the ‘R” word is a question that Djokovic is asked about frequently, which can elicit a big “grrrrr” from him.
Djokovic during a sneak preview of the film in New York City on July 16 emphasized how he is not retired yet, emphasizing that he is still “proving to myself that I can still win.” He is doing a good job at it, too—currently ranked fifth in the world among men’s singles players and having made the finals of the Australian Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon this year already.
Djokovic At Age 39 Is Seeded Fourth In The 2026 U.S. Open Men’s Singles Draw
Novak Djokovic of Serbia is seeded fourth in the men’s singles draw of the upcoming 2026 edition of the U.S. Open. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Now, Djokovic is going forth—and literally “fourth”—to play in the 2026 U.S. Open, seeded fourth in the men’s singles draw that begins August 30. That’s behind only the 29-year-old Alexander Zverev, the 23-year-old Alcaraz and the 25-year-old Félix Auger-Aliassime. The rest of the top ten are all GenZers as well with the exception of the eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who is barely a Millennial at 30 years of age So, while he is seeded in a good position to win the U.S. Open, Djokovic, he will have to overcome youth.
This brings us to a primary purpose of the film. “We had the opportunity here to tell the story of a GOAT and his sport when he is still dominant over just about everyone except a couple of guys in the world,” Hehir explained. “And what he is grappling with, what drives him—now that he has accomplished everything there is to accomplish more than any other tennis player has ever accomplished—what drives him to keep on going, and what is pulling at him off the court, which is being a dad, being a husband, pursuing other things outside of tennis.”
Hehir Found Djokovic To Be ‘Really Intelligent, Really Curious’
However, when Djokovic’s team first talked to Hehir about doing a documentary, Hehir didn’t exactly, umm, “wolf” up the possibility. “I knew who Novak was, obviously, but didn’t know much more about him than the average sports fan,” recalled Hehir. “So I had my doubts about how difficult he might be to work with because I knew what his reputation was as being kind of obstinate, stubborn and maybe arrogant, you know, all these misconceptions that that drive him crazy.”
However, over time while “kicking the tires” of this idea, Hehir came to realize that “This guy is fascinating” and “That this is a really intelligent, really curious person.” For example, Hehir was struck by how “He was really curious from the get go about what my approach was to make a film. Like how do you go about it? What’s the research process? How do you decide how many days you’re gonna shoot?”
Djokovic Pays Close Attention To The Mundane Details Of His Life
An important detail about Djokovic is how closely he pays attention to all the details of his fitness and health. “I never saw him consume one thing that wasn’t the highest grade, healthy meal or beverage or anything you can have,” recalled Hehir. “The first time that we met was in Montenegro. It was like 105 degrees at night over there, and he had a drink in front of him that looked like a lemonade and really refreshing.” Hehir naturally asked the waiter for the same thing, and the waiter gave Hehir this OK-are-you-sure type of look. When the waiter did come back with the drink, “It was tepid, lukewarm celery juice or something like that,” Hehir remarked. “It was not refreshing at all. It was gross.”
Djokovic has a chef who travels with him and makes him “perfectly healthy meals all the time,” in the words of Hehir. “We had a salad with no dressing on it and grilled chicken that wasn’t seasoned. It wasn’t anything like you would have at a restaurant.” Maintaining such routines does take exceptional discipline. “If a layman tried to adopt this regimen, they would find it really challenging and nearly impossible,” Hehir mentioned. “But the impossible is just his mundane at this point.”
Speaking of mundane, there can be a misconception that a top athlete’s life is filled with limelight-like stuff. However, as Hehir indicated, “I wish I had shocking anecdotes that didn’t make it into the movie, but a lot of it, as you probably have observed with athletes, is boring. It’s getting up, meditating for that half hour, needing a healthy breakfast, hitting balls for an hour and a half, watching film and resting.” While Djokovic does have elite innate athletic ability, it’s keeping up with mundane routines each day that has kept him in elite physical, mental and emotional shape.
Djokovic, Like Michael Jordan, Finds Strong Motivation In Proving People Wrong
Another quality of Djokovic’s to Air, so to speak, is something that Hehir also observed in Jordan, considered by many to be the GOAT of basketball: “Michael and Novak are very similar in that there really is nothing more for them to achieve or to prove, and yet when you ask them what gets them out of bed in the morning, it’s to prove people wrong.” After Djokovic has won 10 Australian Open titles, seven Wimbledon titles, four U.S. Open titles and four French Open titles, it’s not as if many people are asking Djokovic when he’ll ever make anything of himself as a tennis player.
“So these guys now have to conjure up doubt in thin air, conjure a motivation,” Hehir explained. “In Novak’s case, he has to look into the crowd and find someone who was booing him or find someone who was talking smack, and dedicate the rest of the match to proving that person wrong or shutting that person up..”
During July’s movie screening, Djokovic mentioned the Serbian word inat: “When people doubt you, when everyone is basically against you, that’s when you use that inat, that force of stubbornness to prove everybody wrong. That inat is actually quite widespread in the mentality of Serbian people.” And inat is also in the following trailer of the movie:
For example, when Djokovic was told that 90 percent of the people in focus groups who had watched The Wolf in Winter thought more highly of him afterwards—which would be a grand slam result for most—Djokovic’s initial response was like “What about the 10 percent?” Yeah, you can’t get much past Djokovic both literally and figuratively.
Djokovic Focuses On The Here And Now
Speaking of past, even though the film was meant to focus on Djokovic’s here and now, it did contain some snippets of his past—like his growing up in war-torn Belgrade —to help understand his present. “With Novak, his childhood was so fraught with danger and fear and a realization that tomorrow is never promised,” Hehir said. “So I don’t know how that that connects to his competitiveness or his monomaniacal focus. I do think there’s a desire to be loved and appreciated.”
Nevertheless, in Hehir’s words, Djokovic “doesn’t really dwell on things that happen in the past. If you prime enough, he’ll talk about the past, but he’s not an open book and not giving you anecdotes about the past unless you really earn that trust.” This ability to focus solely on the here and now rather than dwell on past disappointments or keep looking into the the future is common among elite athletes. “Most of us don’t have that ability,” Hehir remarked. If you were down 40-15, 5-3, in the fifth set of a major, “Most of us would think, ‘[bleep], if I miss this next point, it’s over.’” Not Djokovic, though. Only after that point is done will Djokovic move on in any way to the next point.
The major point of the film and major point to consider as Djokovic plays the 83rd major of his career is that all the aforementioned qualities combine to keep him as a major threat to win the 2026 U.S. Open. Although Djokovic may be in the Winter of his tennis playing career, who knows whether this Winter will last one, two or maybe even 10 more years. What has happened to other players in the past really doesn’t really here, because Djokovic has already proven himself to be an anomaly—a lone wolf when it comes to tennis talent and longevity.