AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 13, 2025

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/N. Basavareddy

4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Novak, well done. How impressed were you by Nishesh, and how do you assess your performance tonight?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I was very impressed by him. I think the whole stadium was really. That's why he got a great round of applause and appreciation from the crowd. They saw what he did on the court, the quality of tennis he put in, the fighting spirit.

Huge credit to him for stepping out in his debut in a Grand Slam, first time on a big court, playing the way he did play. So well done. I'm sure if he keeps going, as I said on the court, this way, he's very young, we going to see quite a bit of him in the future.

He's got really great hands. Overall quite a complete player. Of course, he can always improve on the shots. He already has a really good game.

Yeah, as far as my performance, I think didn't start really well. The first set I lost. Kind of had opportunities to come back towards the end of the first. But yeah, I was probably a bit too passive from back of the court. He was dictating the play.

The 4-3 second set, I played a great game. Crucial break. I started to, yeah, switch the momentum to my side. I served well. I think service was good. Some shots in the game worked well in certain moments, in certain moments they didn't. It was kind of up and down.

I ended up I think the match in a good fashion. I think that it's important. It counts mentally for me, for the rest of the tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. An Andy question. How much hiring Andy was the fact of his ability to analyze play during a match and able to give you feedback? Can you give us any insight what he told you tonight?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Unfortunately, no, because we'll keep that between us.

But yeah, we try to communicate a lot on and off the court. Before the match we talked. Before the warm-up, before the actual match. Right now, five minutes ago we talked about the match, about how I feel, about how he thinks I played and what needs to be done on the practice court tomorrow, et cetera.

I think communication is the key to understanding each other and to finding I guess the formula that really works. That's what we're trying.

As we didn't spend too much time together, we're still in that kind of first phase of getting to know each other. This was the first match that we had together.

Yeah, I really like the feeling having Andy as my coach in the corner from this year. New coaching stuff, player/coaching stuff. Seating which is basically on the court in the corner which allows me to hear them better.

Yeah, a few times I did approach Andy, asked him something about whatever it was, whatever shot. He was giving me his feedback, his guidance and opinion.

It's important. I enjoy talking to Andy. I mean, he knows tennis as well as anybody out there. He's a legend of the sport. He understands the highs and lows that you go through on the court, not just game-wise but mentally and physically.

I don't need to do much explaining. He gets everything that I'm going through. In those moments on the court, it's a big battle. Of course, he wants me to show the energy, to show the fist pump and everything to get myself going.

I think he was doing great today. He was standing up several times, trying to encourage me and support me. I enjoyed it. I really did enjoy it.

I think he's a great guy. It's a pleasure to have him in my corner.

Q. Because of your status, stature, you tend to play a lot of these night matches everywhere. What do you prefer? If you could play any time of day, what do you like the best? Would it be bad to be out there at 11 a.m.?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, whatever they schedule me, I have to accept. As you said, I think I earned my right to also have I guess communication with the tournament management where I can express what I would like, depending on a given day, depending on the opponent. There's, of course, communication. I'm not the only player that's communicating with the tournament director. I mean, my team or whatever.

So yeah, that's all I can say about that.

Q. Possibility of playing Carlos in the quarters. What is it like actually facing him, what the unique challenges are?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I mean, it's quite far to talk about potential matchup against him in quarters. But just overall, you know, he brings so much energy and intensity on the court. From that perspective, reminds me a lot of Rafa. Just such a complete player. He can hurt you from anywhere on any court on any surface. He has shown that. His versatility is amazing.

That he was able at such a young age to reach that level of tennis and I think mental maturity on the court, which is impressive. Makes him one of the best players in the world the last three, four years, without a doubt. He's winning slams every year now consecutively for few years in a row. I'm sure that he's not going to stop here. We're going to see Carlos many years to follow.

Q. You said on the court that it felt a bit strange at first looking over and seeing Andy there.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes.

Q. What sort of feelings went through your head?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I did, of course, practice sessions with him the whole week before tonight's match. But it's different in official match, center court, night session. The court on which we have faced each other the opposite side of the net quite a few times actually. I think we played I don't know how many finals. That's why it was a little bit strange to see that and experience that.

No, look, not to repeat myself, but I'm obviously enjoying myself spending time with him on the court and off the court, talking to him about tennis, just picking his brain, understanding how he sees tennis. I try to ask him questions a lot of times, how he sees my game. He asks me constantly to understand how I feel, what I'm going through.

As I said, it's still that initial period of getting to know each other. There's a lot of communication. At times, as well, it's not necessary for us to exchange words because we just look at each other and we know what happened on the court, whether it's in the match or in the practice session set.

He's constantly supportive and encouraging me. He's brilliant with that. He cares a lot and he's putting a lot of energy into trying to make me feel good on the court. I think that's what I need, honestly. I was looking for that extra motivation.

I definitely have it with Andy.