Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner are two of the top contenders remaining in the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon this year.
Djokovic beat Alex de Minaur to reach his 16th Wimbledon quarter-final, coming from a set down to do so.
There were many big names watching the match from the Royal Box on Centre Court, including Djokovic’s former rival Roger Federer who spoke to him after the match.
While Djokovic came through in more standard fashion, Sinner’s win over Grigor Dimitrov was via retirement after losing the first two sets.
Novak Djokovic responds to Darren Cahill’s comments about him
After beating De Minaur, Djokovic spoke to ESPN where comments made by Sinner’s coach, Darren Cahill, were mentioned to him.
Cahill had previously spoken to ESPN about what Djokovic did in 2022 when he had just started working with Sinner, and how he is often generous with his time when it comes to younger players.
Djokovic was told, “Darren Cahill was in the studio with us earlier and told us a story from about 2022 when he had just started with Jannik.
“He asked you following a match, you had beaten Jannik here [at Wimbledon] and he asked you about Jannik’s game and he said you were so generous in going into detail and talking about this young, upcoming player’s game and how he could grow and what he could learn.
“Darren said that it’s not surprising, you do this for a lot of the young players and their teams in helping the sport. I am just curious why you do this while you are still playing? They are your opponents.”
When Djokovic responded to this question, he revealed that players like Ivan Ljubicic had done the same for him, so he wanted to almost repay the favour.
“I cannot speak on behalf of others but I feel honestly that is something that I have wanted, so I might as well do it and be who I am and true to myself,” replied Djokovic. “If someone asks me it is hard for me to pretend like I don’t know something or I don’t want to help. So even though we are rivals and I am still actively playing against these guys, I don’t mind that.
“I feel that was something that was very useful to me when I was a young player, when I would have certain players like Ivan Ljubicic who was a coach of Roger [Federer] and former number three in the world and I would be sharing a coach with him, Riccardo Piatti, who is Sinner’s coach – it’s like everyone is connected!
“He was very nice. Because of his advice I learned what I needed to learn about with strings. Should I use the gut or the synthetic. Which tension, why a higher tension in these days and why a lower tension the other days.
“So all of these specifics and details were so golden to me. So that is one of the reasons why. Because I got it. Not from all the players, very few, but for me it was super important so I want to share.”
When can Novak Djokovic play Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon?
Djokovic and Sinner are Wimbledon favourites alongside two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, and they could go head-to-head very soon.
The two multiple-time Grand Slam champions will meet if they both reach the semi-finals, something they are just one match away from.
Standing in the way of Djokovic is another young Italian in Flavio Cobolli, who he comfortably beat in their only previous meeting.
While Sinner is facing Ben Shelton, with there being some questions over the world number one’s fitness after he fell in his fourth round match.
The last time that Sinner played Djokovic was in the Roland Garros semi-finals, which the former won in straight sets.
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