Djokovic clarifies his ‘disrespect’ for Sinner: “His name came up and I had that image in my mind”

The Australian Open is just a few hours away and Novak Djokovic is receiving a lot of media attention. So far everything is normal for a legend who has won Melbourne up to ten times.

What is less normal is that the most successful player in history has to face for surreal issues, such as his ‘poisoning’ at the Australian Grand Slam three years ago or for an alleged disrespect to Jannik Sinner.

In case anyone doesn’t know, Nole said a few days ago that the word that came to his mind when he heard Sinner’s name was “ski.”something that some interpreted as a lack of respect for the world number 1.

Nothing could be further from the truth, as Djokovic himself explained. “We talk about how we can ski together… It’s clear as day that the way he dominates deserves all the praise.” explained the Serbian.

“Yes, I’ve seen it on social media, it’s become a bit of a drama or story, it’s like I deliberately humiliated him or disrespected him. that’s ridiculous. It’s one of those interview-type tests, where you have to think about something for a second. The name of the sinner came up and I had this image in my mind of him skiing, because I saw him skiing somewhere. Besides, we both always talk about skiing, that we will go to ski together, etc.,” clarified the current Olympic champion.

“That’s why I said ‘ski’. It’s not because I don’t respect his achievements in tennis, on the contrary. It is more than clear that his wisdom deserves all praiseboth in his style of play and his level. He has all the qualities I have mentioned to others (Federer, Nadal, Alcaraz) and now people are making it seem like I don’t respect him. “Nonsense,” said Djokovic, who will make his Australian Open debut on Monday (9 am Spanish peninsular time) against American Nishesh Basavareddy.