World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is one step closer to defending his Australian Open title, moving into the fourth round on Friday with an impressive win over Tomas Etcheverry in three sets. Following the win, Nole was asked about potentially facing Ben Shelton in the next round and that opened a can of worms about carrying yourself on the court. Shelton has been criticized for being confident and borderline cocky, and Djokovic discussed how Roger Federer actually saw that in him when he first came on the tour, although the two are close friends now.
Via The Tennis Letter:
“That's a good question. I mean, I know certainly Federer didn't like the way I was behaving at the beginning. I think it didn't sit with him well. I don't know about the others. I guess I wasn't the favorite type of guy to some of the top guys because I was not afraid to say that I want to be the best player in the world. I was kind of – not kind of – I was confident. I felt like I have the game to back it up. I never, ever lacked respect. Whenever I start a match, before the match or finish the match, I would always greet the opponent, always acknowledge. Respect is something that I was taught that needs to be present regardless of what is happening. Obviously on the court a lot of things can happen in a kind of heat of a battle. It was very long time ago now, 20 years since I made my first debut I think on the professional tour. It's really hard to say who liked me more or less. I think I named one, so I don't know. I can't recall others.”
Novak Djokovic has developed into a player who is confident but not cocky and he backs it all up. I mean, the Serbian has won a record 24 Grand Slams including 10 Australian Opens. He'll be going for 11. Nole will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Saturday and not Shelton for what it's worth, who was just eliminated.
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