Tennis Pro Novak Djokovic Secret Weapon: Manuka Honey

How Manuka Honey has Helped Djokovic Up his Tennis Game

Over the past few years, professional tennis player Novak Djokovic has moved all the way up to the number one player in the world. In recent interviews, the tennis star attributes much of his success to a new, gluten-free diet as well as some unorthodox health regimens, including sitting inside a pressurized CVAC. Djokovic has kept the details of his diet and health routines quite but now they will all be revealed in a book looking to be released in the next month.

Djokovic’s book offers an uncommon look into the mind and body of an elite athlete who has fought his way to the top of a very competitive sport. Additionally, the book confirms the idea that many fans have had for some time – Djokovic is a very unusual fellow. Some of the tips that Djokovic reveals in his book include drinking warm water throughout the day, avoiding dairy products, caffeine and sugars, doing plenty of meditation and yoga, and ensuring you get seven to eight full hours of sleep every night.

Another surprising choice that Djokovic reveals is his love for Manuka honey. This honey is cultivated exclusively in New Zealand and comes from bees who only feed on the Manuka tree. This tree grows into a densely branched shrub and thrives in soil that is so devoid of nutrients nothing else will grow there. "The first thing I do out of bed is to drink a tall glass of room-temperature water," Djokovic writes in his book, "The second thing I do might really surprise you: I eat two spoonfuls of honey. Every day."

A Manuka honey expert and professor of biological sciences at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, Dr. Peter Molan, says that the honey is known to have an excellent antibacterial properties which are most often used to help treat infections in topical wounds. Molan also believes that ingesting the honey may not have the benefits that athletes like Djokovic believe it to have. "A whole large jarful would get diluted too much by your system to be effective," Molan states.

Djokovic strongly believes in his Manuka honey routine and he, much like other professional athletes including many tennis players, are known for their unique quirks and compulsions. While Djokovic has his quirks, he doesn’t believe he has any many as fellow tennis player Rafael Nadal, whom Djokovic refers to as "a ball of nervous tics and superstitious rituals." "What matters is not whether you believe in or follow these particular approaches," Djokovic writes. "What matters is that you are open minded."