Novak Djokovic - Serve to Win: The 14-Day Gluten-Free Plan for Physical and Mental Excellence

No book can replace the diagnostic expertise and medical advice of a trusted physician. Please be certain to consult with your doctor before making any decisions that affect your health, particularly if you suffer from any medical condition or have any symptom that may require treatment.

Copyright 2013 by Novak Djokovic

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Zinc Ink, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.

B ALLANTINE and the H OUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Z INC I NK is a trademark of David Zinczenko.

eISBN: 978-0-345-54899-3

www.ballantinebooks.com

Jacket design: Joseph Heroun
Jacket photograph: Richard Phibbs
Clothing by Uniqlo
www.uniqlo.com

v3.1

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill

CONTENTS

P EAK HUMAN PERFORMANCE : That is what Novak Djokovic has accomplished in the world of tennis. Only a select few achieve this level in any field, and it takes a culmination of talent, courage, and determinationplus the removal of all impedimentsto do so.

Its the aim of all human endeavors, from quantum physics to computer programming to tennis. For most of us, peak performance proves elusive, given the physical and emotional barriers placed in our way that impede achieving the true height of human body-and-mind potential.

Novak Djokovic has overcome overwhelming odds to achieve his exalted place in tennis history. He managed to obtain training experience in Serbia, a country in which tennis was virtually unknown. He maintained his demanding training discipline while his home city of Belgrade was under siege during the War of Kosovo, his family finding refuge in a bomb shelter for months on end. And yet, despite the hurdles he had to conquer, one thing nearly felled this champion. That thing was modern wheat.

Watching him in his 2010 Australian Open quarterfinal match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, you couldnt help but sense that something was impeding Djokovics ability to stay at the top of his game: a mishit here, a millisecond of mistiming there, a wince with a tough return, and a medical timeout in the fourth set during which he appeared to be in visible abdominal discomfort. The result was defeat after several hours of struggle. His 2012 Australian Open final match against Rafael Nadal was an entirely different story: Djokovic was smooth, confident, and in control of the gamein a word, brilliant. How was this transformation possible? Simple. Djokovic removed the barriers to peak mental and physical performance by doing precisely the opposite of what conventional nutritional advice repeatedly tells us: He removed healthy whole grains from his diet.

As a result, he won three Grand Slam tournaments in 2011 (the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open), won an astonishing 50 out of 51 tournaments over 12 months, and earned the number one ranking for mens tennis in the world. His performance that year even astounded other top players, moving Rafael Nadal to declare that Djokovics playing represented the highest level of tennis that I ever saw.

How can removing a ubiquitous component of the human dietwheat is found in virtually all processed foodscatapult an athletes performance to new heights, allowing him to express his full mental and physical potential? That is precisely the question that I have devoted the last several years of my career to understanding: Why does modern wheat, the product of genetic manipulations by geneticists and agribusiness, potentially impair mental and physical performance, regardless of talent, ability, or drive?

Ive seen it do so to staggering degrees. Modern wheat is capable of ruining digestive health, causing conditions ranging from acid reflux to ulcerative colitis and other forms of abdominal distress. It can trigger inflammation (common joint stiffness and pain) and autoimmune conditions (rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimotos thyroiditis). It can unmask or worsen psychiatric conditions such as paranoia or schizophrenia and trigger behavioral outbursts and learning impairment in children with autistic spectrum disorder. It can cause weight gain, particularly in the abdomen, via its unique appetite-stimulating effect, making even athletes who train hours each day overweight. It can impair sports performance by provoking any of these and many other conditions, topped off with mind fog, fatigue, and distortions of hormonal status, ultimately triggering a physical and emotional roller coaster that can strike anyone, anytime.

It struck Mr. Djokovic at that match against Tsonga in 2010a match he knew he should have won.

As the father of a professional tennis player daughter, I can only begin to appreciate the extraordinary time and effort devoted to climbing to the top of the tennis world. Of all the hurdles one must face to achieve ones physical and mental peak, how can a simple nutritional misstep get in the way? Because eating wheat has always been the status quo, even at the lofty heights of the professional sports world, where it has the potential to cripple performance, cloud mental focus, and bring a champion to his knees.

It is a new age in sports performance. It is a new age in transforming ourselves in all spheres of life. It is a new age in rejecting the common advice to consume more healthy whole grains. Mr. Djokovics experience is perfectly consistent with what I have observed in hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who have followed the advice to cut all traces of modern wheat from their diet: staggering improvements in health and life performance.

I am thrilled that a noted public figure such as Novak Djokovic, someone admired and trusted by millions of tennis fans, has chosen to speak out on this issue and set a winning example of what can be achieved through exceptional commitment and hard work, coupled with genuine insight into maximizing performance through diet.

William Davis, M.D.
www.wheatbellyblog.com
Author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly:
Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path
Back to Health and the New York Times bestseller
Wheat Belly Cookbook

FROM THE BRINK OF FAILURE TO THE
CHAMPION OF THE WORLDIN 18 MONTHS

J UST AS I WAS REACHING for the top, I hit bottom.

I was nineteen years old, an unknown kid from a war-torn country who had suddenly burst onto the professional scene. I was on a nine-match winning streak and poised to take a commanding lead in the final round of the 2006 Croatia Open. The stadium crowd was on my side; my team was cheering me on.