With the new season looming on the horizon, Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic is gearing up for a cracking year of tennis. Djokovic is currently in Dubai, where he ran into UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov recently. Khabib‘s coach, Javier Mendez, who was accompanying the star, revealed he had an interesting conversation with Djokovic.
The Serb is in the country for his pre-season training before he takes on Carlos Alcaraz at the Riyadh Tennis Cup. He has been staying at the Atlantis The Royal Hotel, with snippets of his rigorous practice making its way to social media often. Following the conclusion of the exhibition event, Djokovic will head Down Under to defend his Australian Open title.
Earlier this week, Novak caught up with his friend, Nurmagomedov. The two of them go a long way back and have been each other’s biggest supporters. This time, Khabib’s trainer, Javier, was also present, and he took to social media to share photos of their meetup. Javier also shared a rather hilarious anecdote from his interaction with Novak.
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Mendez revealed the conversation he had with Djokovic and why he lied to the world number one. Javier confessed that he was regaling stories about the number of champions he had trained. He went on to add that he lied to Novak about the numbers to impress him.
“I’m discussing how many UFC champions I’ve coached, and I actually lied. I haven’t coached 20 UFC champions. But Novak listened to me so much, and that’s probably why I tried to impress him. Coaches may be lying,” wrote Mendez.
Novak Djokovic had an excellent year, where he won three Grand Slams out of four. By winning the Nitto ATP Finals, the Serb ended the year on a high note as well.
Novak Djokovic assesses his year
The Serb enjoyed a lot of success on the court this season. He was a force to be reckoned with, and he decimated his opponents on the path to victory. Since claiming the US Open, Novak has equaled Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slams. Moreover, he finished the year as world number one for the eighth time in his career.
Novak played only twelve tournaments this year and won six of them, including the three Grand Slams. Djokovic rated this year as one of the best he has played.
Novak Djokovic has broken his own record as oldest year-end No. 1… for a second time! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FEefPlVlxG
— Eurosport (@eurosport) November 13, 2023
“One of the best years. I wouldn’t say the best, but one of the best. I mean, the fact that I’ve won three out of four Slams and played a final in the fourth, and it’s still not the best year of my life, it’s quite nice to have that kind of situation,” he said (via Eurosport).