“Novak Djokovic’s always making fun of me” – Aryna Sabalenka reveals Serb’s crucial skill she refuses to stop ‘copying’ at Wimbledon

July 7, 2025

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Aryna Sabalenka pledged to continue copying ‘the best’, Novak Djokovic’s crucial skill, despite the latter making fun of her. Sabalenka advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals after defeating her former doubles partner, Elise Mertens, in two sets.

Aryna Sabalenka is en route to her fifth major title win at Wimbledon 2025, after narrowly missing pole finishes at the Australian Open and the French Open. Determined to make it through this time, the Belarusian resorted to training with the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the build-up to the third Grand Slam of the year.

Sabalenka outpaced her former doubles partner, Elise Mertens, in the fourth round and later admitted that she implemented some of Djokovic’s tactics into her play. She also revealed how the Serb has been making fun of her for imitating his return, but the World No. 1 would not mind ‘copying from the best’.

"Talking a lot to Novak, like, he definitely has a lot of knowledge of the game," she said. "It's really helped me a lot several times...One of the conversation went to like managing energy. Another one about the mental part of the game. Then we had another conversation about, like, mentally approaching those big finals. So yeah, I think mostly we're talking about the mental part of the game. I mean, also one time he really helped me with the return."

She added:

"Now he's always like making fun of me copying his return. I'm like, man, it's working. I'm copying the best. Actually maybe I have to talk to him a bit more about tennis stuff." (TNT Sports)

Sabalenka faced Mertens on the court 12 times, and the latter leads 10-2 in their head-to-head.

Aryna Sabalenka received congratulatory messages from Novak Djokovic and even bonded with the Serb's kids

Djokovic and Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open: Previews - (Source: Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka clashed with the British No. 1 Emma Raducanu in the third round of Wimbledon. Following her victory, she received a message from Djokovic, and the latter even shared his son's drawing with the Belarusian.

Speaking on that, the 27-year-old said:

"He actually messaged. The Belarusian added: "I got to meet his kids... they're so adorable. He actually sent me a drawing from his son and it was so cute. And, of course, he congratulated me with such stuff."

Aryna Sabalenka will next face Laura Siegemund in the quarterfinals, while Djokovic, the only player to win a triple Career Grand Slam and achieve a Career Golden Masters, will go up against Alex de Minaur in the Round of 16 today.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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