Roger Federer revealed his cheeky nickname for Novak Djokovic as the pair reunited at the Shanghai Masters.
Djokovic is the last man standing as far as the big three of men’s tennis is concerned, with Rafael Nadal having announced his retirement this week.
While it might’ve been a frustrating year for Djokovic on the ATP Tour, the Serb remains among the best players in the world and will head into 2025 on the lookout for his record-extending 25th Grand Slam title.
One man who knows a thing or two about Slams having picked up 20 of his own is Federer, and the Swiss ace has reunited with Djokovic at the ongoing Shanghai Masters.
Spotting him as he was walking through the corridor, Federer greeted Djokovic by saying: “Old man,” a bold claim given he’s six years his senior.
The interaction was of course tongue in cheek, with Djokovic laughing off Federer’s age-related jibe before offering his former foe a warm embrace.
Djokovic certainly didn’t look like an old man during his quarter-final clash against Jakub Mensik when he came from one set down to take a 2-1 victory against the teenage prodigy.
Despite securing the win, Djokovic was full of praise for his competitor, commenting after the match: “Jakub is someone I’ve been following in the last three, four years. We went toe-to-toe until the last moment, until the last game.
“I could see today why he is one of the best servers we have in the game – and he’s only 19.
“I think the future is very bright for him. He knows that I am always there for him, whatever he needs.”
The 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 4-6 scoreline definitely didn’t reflect the full picture, with Mensik scoring 17 aces compared to Djokovic’s seven.
The 2024 Olympic gold medalist was quick to admit he had got lucky with some of the points: “I was fortunate to really find great serves in the last game, a couple of aces, that helps.
“I didn’t serve that well at the end of the first set when I was serving for the set at 5-4, he managed to turn things around. He played a good tie-break, I played quite a bad tie-break.
“I just kind of stayed collected and started off very well in the second. I felt that we both had a little bit of a physical crisis at the beginning of the second. I think we pushed each other a lot, a lot of long rallies, a tough battle.”
Djokovic faces Taylor Fritz in the Shanghai Masters semi-final on Saturday.
