Novak Djokovic is not successful by chance, he's a wonderful & humble soul: Singer Hanka Paldum

Famous Bosnian sevdalinka vocalist Hanka Paldum has heaped praise on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, describing him as a 'wonderful and humble soul.' She even said that Djokovic's mother was blessed for having given birth to a gem like him.

In an interview with the Sportsport.ba portal, Hanka Paldum spoke about the 2020 Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, whom she recently met during the Serbian star's visit to Bosnia.

I realized that Novak Djokovic is not so successful by chance: Hanka Paldum

Novak Djokovic is a 17-time Grand Slam Champion

Novak Djokovic has achieved enormous success on the tennis court, to say the least. The 33-year-old from Serbia has won eight Australian Open titles, one French Open, five Wimbledon Championships and three US Open trophies for a staggering total of 17. He has also won 62 other singles titles in his career, and his total title haul is good enough for fifth position in the Open Era.

The Serbian player, however, hasn't had a happy time the last couple of months. His attempt to revive tennis in the Balkans by organizing the now-infamous Adria Tour last month snowballed into a total disaster.

The hosts received an emphatic response in Belgrade as the likes of Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and other European stars joined hands with Novak Djokovic to entertain the fans. But things went south in Zadar, as Grigor Dimitrov tested positive for COVID-19. Soon after that, three other players - including Novak Djokovic - contracted the virus too, and the Serb had no option but to call off the entire event.

Novak Djokovic with some Adria Tour participants in Belgrade

Because of his failed experiment, Novak Djokovic received a lot of criticism from all over the world. The biggest reason why everyone was particularly outraged about his project was that the Serb didn't implement social distancing protocols at the event.

But Djokovic has recovered from the virus now, and last week he embarked on a trip to Bosnia along with his family. Among the various activities that Novak Djokovic did on his vacation, he met with one of the best female sevdah performers of the 20th century, Hanka Paldum.

Hanka Paldum ( 28 April 1956). Bosnian sevdalinka vocalist and founder of the record label Sarajevo Disk She is regarded as one of the best female sevdah performers of the 20th century and is popular in her home country of Bosnia as well as in the rest of the former YugoslaviaSH pic.twitter.com/OfHiBb1xEC

— This is Bosnia and Herzegovina (@Geographymunic1) December 10, 2018

The folk music singer shared her experience of meeting Novak Djokovic and described his personality with rich platitudes.

"Through hanging out with him, I realized that Novak is not so successful by chance. He is a wonderful and humble soul. I just told him: Blessed is the mother who gave birth to you and the woman who has you."

She also mentioned that Novak Djokovic sang her song 'Black Hair' to celebrate his wins.

"I know that he always sings it when he celebrates a victory or a title," Paldum added.