tennis
Djokovic touts benefits of health food
tennis

Djokovic touts benefits of health food

Published Jul. 31, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

Over at Stuff White People Like, they ought to be carving a Hall of Fame bust for Novak Djokovic.

This is a man who, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, is not only just a professional tennis player — he's also a health-food freak obsessed with everything from special New Zealand honey, shakes made out of pea protein, and (of course) cashew butter. If he buys this stuff at Whole Foods while wearing Tom's shoes and drives it all home in a Volvo, he's the perfect example of a wealthy hipster.

Except Djokovic does this for a practical, defensible reason. It keeps his body lithe and light so he can chase down all those rockets to the corner, and you can't say it isn't working. Djokovic is the No. 1 tennis player in the world.

He also drinks room-temperature water all day because he says cold water slows digestion and diverts blood flow away from his muscles.

ADVERTISEMENT

As is the case with most wacky diets, the nutritional science behind Djokovic's eating habits is up for debate. That fancy honey? While known to have anti-bacterial properties, a professor of nutritional studies and expert on manuka honey admits that even "a whole large jarful would get diluted too much by your system to be effective."

Djokovic has lived gluten-free for a while now, and this appears to be the next step. He has revealed it all in a book that will be released next month.

share


Get more from tennis Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic