Three Main Reasons, Why Novak Djokovic is the best tennis player of 2011 (Gluten free Diet)

 

This is my third part of blog on why Novak Djokovic is the best tennis player of 2011.

In this blog we will see how Gluten-free diet has changed his playing stamina.and feeling stronger on the court.

3.    Gluten-free diet.

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic hasn't earned his No. 1 ranking by taking the conventional road. There's his odd ritual of excessive ball bouncing before serves, which can break an opponent's concentration. There's his new gluten-free diet, which he's said has helped him feel stronger on the court.

So let use see what he is not eating. Since last year, he's swearing off pasta, pizza, beer, French bread, Corn Flakes, pretzels, empanadas, Mallomars and Twizzlers—anything with gluten.

It's no secret that Djokovic has had a breakout season, or that he has been, by any reasonable standard, the world's best athlete of 2011.

How this happen?

Last year, Djokovic's nutritionist discovered that Djokovic is allergic to the protein, which is found in common flours. Djokovic banished it from his diet and lost a few pounds. He says he now feels much better on court. A gluten-free diet can have implications far beyond the physical, especially in tennis, which taxes the mind like few other sports. The season is 11 months long, matches are grueling and can last for hours, and the slightest dip in a player's confidence can derail months of hard work. There's never anyone else to blame for a match gone awry.

It's mostly mental energy you're talking about, not energy supplied to muscle tissues, said David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University, when asked about the effects of giving up gluten if one has an allergy. (An allergy differs from celiac disease, whose sufferers, Levitsky said, can incur far-reaching health effects from eating gluten, including the inability to absorb nutrients.)

Levitsky said a gluten-free diet might have benefits for those with mild allergies, or even no allergy at all. The other part of the story is, if you believe in a cause of your disorder, it becomes the cause, he said. We see this in many different studies. If you believe it, you change your behavior in the direction of being cured. In tennis, something small often leads to a big boost in confidence. For Djokovic, there has been no shortage of pick-me-ups in the past nine months.

Besides this diet he has also massively improved his serve, his fitness, and he's hitting his forehand a lot better," said Brad Gilbert, the ESPN commentator and former coach of Andy Murray and Andre Agassi. "I've never seen anybody move better on a tennis court in my life. He's so flexible; he can make impossible gets with ease."

What is Gluten-Free Diet?

A strict gluten-free diet means no oats, wheat, rye, barley, or malt flavorings, and everything from soy sauce to fried chicken is off-limits because of one little protein. When people who have been diagnosed with Celiac disease follow this diet, they often experience relief of symptoms like intestinal discomfort, diarrhea, overwhelming fatigue, and muscle cramps. For these individuals, it’s important to be cautious with food preparation and eating out is often more trouble than it’s worth.