World No. 247 Marat Sharipov shared the unexpected experience of having tennis legend Novak Djokovic observe his practice session and the subsequent interaction.
Sharipov recounted, “Yesterday, I was practicing with Miomir Kecmanovic. On the court next to us, Novak was training with his coach Boris Bošnjaković. Our coaches then decided that Miomir and I should play a practice set. Novak was finishing his session and chose to stay and watch how we played points. It was incredibly unexpected and quite nerve-wracking, because it`s not every day you get to spar with such a high-level player, and having Novak watch the entire time made it even more significant. It turned out to be a long and productive practice session.”
He continued, “Afterward, my coach spoke with Novak, and I also had a brief chat. There was talk about potentially practicing together on Friday and Saturday. Initially, we had arranged for Thursday earlier in the week, but considering their practice schedule, they decided to take a rest day [on Wednesday] because they are flying to Geneva on Saturday. During our session, Novak even applauded my play, and we had a very positive conversation.”
Sharipov added that Novak`s coach, Boris, later contacted his coach, Stefan. “Boris called my coach Stefan and mentioned that Novak was impressed with my game and that we could potentially practice on Friday or Saturday, as well as in the future. It means a great deal to me that the greatest tennis player in history speaks positively about my abilities. I was absolutely thrilled.”
Marcus Prine