Novak Djokovic has continued his bid for a historic 100th ATP title in his return to the Miami Open.
Djokovic was struggling for form coming into the Miami Open this year, after not playing the Floridian Masters 1000 tournament since 2019.
However, the Serbian appears to have overcome his recent blip as Djokovic returned to winning ways with victories over Rinky Hijikata and Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
There was some rumors of a potential injury concern for Djokovic, but that did not seem to be present in his straight sets win over Carabelli.
Novak Djokovic names ATP player who can challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
As Djokovic moves into the latter stages of his career at 37-years-old, he is continually asked about the future of the sport once he has retired.
Both of his biggest rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are no longer active players, while Andy Murray is coaching Djokovic.
One of the most talked about young players at the moment is Joao Fonseca, who Djokovic has previously praised, and was once again asked about in his post-match press conference in Miami.
While Djokovic once again gave the Brazilian teenager lots of credit, he also mentioned Jakub Mensik and Learner Tien as two other potential stars for the future and suggested that they could challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
“Well, he’s [Fonseca] been talk of the tour in the last several months,” said Djokovic. “I mean, deservedly so. He’s very good tennis player. I mean, so young. Just incredible firepower from both ends of the baseline. Serve. He’s very complete player.
“Of course, what is impressive is the way he strikes the ball, but even more so how he handles the nerves on the court for someone that doesn’t have experience at all playing at the highest level.
“He’s exciting for Brazil, for the world of tennis. I was saying back in Australia, for our tennis ecosystem, our sport, it’s super important to have a superstar, future superstar, hopefully coming from Brazil. Such a big country, big market, important. Of course, Miami, I think everyone knew that he’s going to have quite a support here.
“He’s very exciting player to watch. But he’s not the only one. You have Mensik. Maybe because people talk about Fonseca so much, they forgot about Mensik. They’re the same age. Tien, as well. All those players are very young, but they have as good of rankings as he does. They’re as good as he.
“I think it’s exciting, I don’t know what should I call it, that generation, new, new, new generation is bringing. It’s always great that you have exciting players to watch and see the players that have potential to reach the greatest heights and to carry this sport.
“Obviously Sinner and Alcaraz are the leaders of today, still very young. But then these guys, seems like they’re knocking on the door of Sinner, Alcaraz in the years to come.”
Mensik actually matched a Djokovic record following his win over Jack Draper at the Miami Open, as the Czech teenager continues his rise up the ranks.
Novak Djokovic overtakes Rafael Nadal with ATP Masters 1000 Record
It is not just Mensik setting records in Miami this year, with Djokovic achieving one of his own after winning his second round match over Carabelli, 6-1 7-6(1).
This was the 411th Masters 1000 victory of Djokovic’s career, meaning that he now stands alone as the player with the most match wins at this level.
He has overtaken the aforementioned Nadal (410) by doing this, with Roger Federer (381), Andy Murray (230) and Andre Agassi (209) all sitting behind.
This is just one of many records that Djokovic has set at these events over the years, having won more Masters 1000 titles than any other player in history.
- 40 Masters 1000 titles
- Double Career Golden Masters (Winning all of the Masters 1000 tournaments twice)
- Six Masters 1000 titles in one season (2015)
- 31 consecutive wins at Masters 1000 tournaments
Djokovic will look to extend his lead at the top of the history books when he plays his fourth round match at the Miami Open against 15th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
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