Novak Djokovic reveals which star player he shares ‘quite a bit of similarities’ with ahead of Wimbledon round of 16

Novak Djokovic believes that Jannik Sinner is the young player best placed to follow in his footsteps stylistically.

Sinner is still at the start of his tennis journey with three Grand Slams to his name, but Djokovic believes there are similarities between him and the Italian.

“We try to take the ball early, be aggressive, and dominate the exchange from the baseline.

“I remember him as a really young kid, I think he was 13, 14 years old when I met him first and hit some balls with him.

“Already at that point, he was skinny and tall, kind of like myself.

“He’s taller than me, but I was always quite skinny when I was younger.

“He was just ripping the ball.

“You could see that he’s got really good timing, good speed on his strokes.

“He uses a Head Speed racquet that I use, as well. There are quite a few similarities.”

Djokovic stressed that Sinner brings his own energy to their shared style.

“He’s unique in his own way,” he said.

“The work that he has done with his team over the last couple of years is tremendous in terms of his improvement.

“Serve, movement, accuracy.

“I mean, as much as everybody talks about the speed of his shots, but the timing is incredible.

“I think he decreased the number of unforced errors he had, maybe in the first few years of his career, and now he’s just super accurate and constantly puts pressure on the opponent because he plays so fast.

“So, yeah, I’m glad that I was able to, in a sense, influence him in a positive way, hopefully as someone that he was looking up to in terms of the game.”

Sinner and Djokovic have faced each other nine times on tour since their first meeting in 2021.

Their last meeting was at the 2025 French Open, with Sinner eliminating Djokovic at the semi-final stage.

The Italian star has previously admitted that he sees some of the similarities with Djokovic.

“The way he moves, I feel like he is still much more confident than I am on grass, how he moves,” said Sinner when asked about the similarities with Djokovic.

“But this is also the experience he has more than I have.

“He mixes up the game a little bit more.

“I am maybe a little bit the faster hitter, but in the other way, I’m also quite consistent, like he is.

“There are some similarities.

“But yeah, I believe that he gave me a lot of information that I can make my game similar to his, but in my style.

“I always try to see from certain players what I can take and trying to see if it works well.

“He is definitely the main person I look up to, trying to do couple of things like him.”