Bernard Tomic reveals he was "inspired" by Novak Djokovic to turn vegan

During a recent episode of the Functional Tennis Podcast, Bernard Tomic revealed that Novak Djokovic "inspired" him to stop eating meat and turn vegan. A vegan diet solely contains plant-based food and does not include animal products.

That said, it is pertinent to note that Djokovic himself does not like to be labeled a vegan, but he does strictly follow a plant-based diet. The Serb also avoids consuming gluten as he is allergic to the ingredient.

As such, Djokovic has followed a very healthy diet for well over a decade, which has contributed to his supreme physicality, flexibility, and mobility on the court.

Bernard Tomic confessed, meanwhile, that he was not the healthiest athlete on tour, given his love for fast food. However, the Aussie is now a strict vegan as he aims to rebuild his body to make one last attempt at breaking into the top 10.

During the podcast, Tomic admitted that in the past he lacked discipline when it came to his diet and training.

"Yes, like (if his old diet included fast food) you know, I wasn't very professional with the outside stuff I was doing, with the eating, with the training obviously," Tomic said.

Tomic went on to reveal that he turned vegan a couple of years ago and was inspired by none other than Djokovic himself.

"You know I changed to Vegan two and a half, three years ago and I love it, it's an amazing feeling," Tomic added. "A lot of successful people are vegan. I got inspired actually by Novak, so it was something I tried and it worked for me. I don't think I'll ever go back to eating anything else so I'm a proud vegan."

The 29-year-old acknowledged that although the taste of meat products is "unbelievable," he does not want to harm animals due to his belief in "karma."

"The taste of meat, don't get me wrong, it's unbelievable but like I don't miss it because there's animals involved and I'm all about that. I mean I believe in Karma, you know you do the right thing and there's always something around," Tomic said. "It's not just that but for my health as well. I mean my health has overall gone a lot better in the last couple of years."

Novak Djokovic does not like being labeled a vegan

Novak Djokovic at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships

Speaking to the media after his semifinal win over Roberto Bautista Agut at Wimbledon in 2019, Novak Djokovic revealed that he does not like being termed a vegan.

However, the Serb made it clear that he has been on a plant-based diet for "quite a few years."

“I don’t like the labels, to be honest. I do eat plant-based (food), for quite a few years already," Djokovic had said in 2019.

Djokovic explained that he avoids the term 'vegan' given how people often misinterpret such labels. He further added that consuming a plant-based diet helps him to "recover well."

“But because of the misinterpretations of labels and misuse of labels, I just don’t like that kind of name," Djokovic added. "I do eat plant-based. I think that’s one of the reasons why I recover well. I don’t have allergies that I used to have any more."