“Novak, can I come with you?” Novak Djokovic’s heartwarming gesture to “rival” Daniil Medvedev draws an emotional confession from the World No. 3

Djokovic has a 10-5 record against Medvedev in head-to-heads.

“Novak, can I come with you?” Novak Djokovic’s heartwarming gesture to “rival” Daniil Medvedev draws an emotional confession from the World No. 3

Daniil Medvedev (L), Novak Djokovic (R) (Sources: Screengrab/X)

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev revealed a fascinating story related to Novak Djokovic yesterday in the press conference ahead of his fourth-round match against Nuno Borges. The story dates all the way back to 2017 when Medvedev was the 400th-ranked player in the world and the Serb was already a well-established legend in the sport. 

Medvedev said that he was practicing with Djokovic ahead of the 2017 Davis Cup when the Serb offered him to fly with him on his private jet. The Russian already had a ticket with one stop and a 3-hour wait in between flights and was hesitant at first because of his shy nature. He later agreed to the Serb’s offer. 

YouTube video
Novak said ‘You wanna come with me [on my plane]’ and I’m a pretty shy person, so, at first, I said ‘no, no’, I already had plane ticket with 1 stop and a 3 hour wait between flights. When the practice with Novak finished, I was like ‘really Novak, I can come with you?’, and he said ‘Yeah, of course.’ 
Medvedev narrated

Djokovic’s Serbia faced Medvedev’s Russia in the first round of the tournament and won 4-1. It included Nole’s 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-0, retd win over Medvedev.

FS Video

This marked the beginning of a very long healthy rivalry that ultimately developed between these two players. Most recently, they faced each other in the final of the 2023 US Open in which the Serb defeated the Russian to win his 24th Grand Slam title. 

Daniil Medvedev defends Novak Djokovic on-court aggression 

Medvedev remarked in the press conference that the media tries way too hard to portray Novak Djokovic as a rude person. But in reality, he has always personally found him very friendly off the court. 

Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Source: Open Source/X)
That’s what some people don’t know about Novak, ok he can be tough on the court, just like me, but when I met him the first time I was World #400, now I am #3, and I was #1, and he always has treated me the same. I became more of a rival, but the treatment off-court was the same. 

The two players have faced each other a total of 15 times. Daniil Medvedev won five of those matches while the rest were won by Novak Djokovic. 

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