Laureus World Sportsman Djokovic: I dared to dream

Tennis player Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses for photographs with his award at the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards, central London, February 6, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - "I dared to dream of becoming the best player. Now I have this special award and I think everything is possible," said Serbian tennis giant Novak Djokovic, who was just acclaimed the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year on Monday.

"Serbia is a small and beautiful country, but also very poor," he said emotionally. "It has a lot of troubles and wars in the last 20 years." However, the man said he never lost his dream. "I hope each and every one in the world could dream."

The Serbian tennis player who seemed always overshadowed by the glory of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, rose up last season to win Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open Grand Slams in his remarkable 2011. He also took away the tennis world No. 1 ranking from Nadal.

As the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title, Djokovic is also the youngest player to reach the semifinals of all the four Grand Slams in the open era at the age of 24.

Although his dominant performance dropped a little bit at the end of last season, Djokovic still proved his dominance with a 70-6 record.

Legendary tennis player Pete Sampras described his season as "the best I have seen in my lifetime".

When asked to choose between titles of French Open, the only Grand Slam title he lacked, and the Olympics, Djokovic didn't hide his ambition. "Why not both," he said. "If I have a choice, then why not both."

In fact, he was eying the other three Grand Slams as well. "Everything is possible," he announced. "I am learning how to make the right schedule and how to prepare for big events. I will try to set up my form."

The normally jocose "Djoker" would become serious at the mentioning of adversity, agreeing that his career was hard sometimes and took a lot of efforts. But "the pain is temporary, and success is permanent," he said.

Looking into the upcoming Olympics, Djokovic said he hoped to watch many other sports, especially athletics and swimming which he liked.

"Unfortunately four years ago in Beijing, I wasn't able to see other sports, because tennis event only went on for a week and I had to move on to the other part of the world," he said.

So this year, he wanted to enjoy the Olympics more. "I am looking forward to it," he beamed.