LONDON: Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner might be rivals at Wimbledon but a couple of years ago the Serbian was handing out advice to him.
Djokovic, who is 15 years older than the Italian, registered his 100th win at The All England Club on Saturday evening with a commanding 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, win over compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic. The 24-time Grand Slam champion dominated large portions of the match, winning nine consecutive games at one point and firing 60 winners.
The display sent out a warning to the rest of the draw, including Sinner who could face Djokovic in the semi-finals, which will be their 10th Tour-level meeting. The world No.1 currently leads their head-to-head 5-4 and has won their four most recent meetings.
“I think he was 13, 14 years old when I met him first and hit some balls with him. Already at that point he was skinny and tall, kind of like myself. He’s taller than me, but I was always quite skinny when I was younger,” Djokovic said of his rival.
“He was just ripping the ball. You could see that he’s got really good timing, good speed on his strokes. He uses a Head Speed racquet that I use, as well. There are quite a few similarities.
“But he’s unique in his own way. The work that he has done with his team over the last couple of years is tremendous in terms of his improvement.
“I think he decreased the number of unforced errors he had maybe in the first few years of his career, and now he’s just super accurate and constantly puts pressure on the opponent because he plays so fast.”
Earlier in the tournament, Sinner said his game has similarities with that of Djokovic. Explaining that he tries to use the techniques of players he likes and then adapts them into his own game. He has also worked with trainer Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Uli Badio have also previously been part of his rival’s team.
Djokovic’s impact on Sinner dates back to when he was a teenager. He has previously issued feedback to Sinner’s former coach Riccardo Piatti, whom, coincidentally, he has also worked with.
“I’m glad that I was able to, in a sense, influence him in a positive way, hopefully as someone that he was looking up to in terms of the game,” Djokovic commented.
“He was working for quite a few years with Riccardo Piatti, who used to be my coach, with whom I have a great relationship with. That’s how I met Jannik. Riccardo would then ask me to give advice, some guidance to Jannik. So we would talk quite a bit. I would always be happy to share.”
Djokovic and Sinner will resume their Wimbledon campaigns on Monday when they play their fourth round matches against Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov.
