Novak Djokovic is a fun loving and jolly character on and off the court. Djokovic, who is nicknamed ‘the joker’, has often got along very well with the rest of the roster, which is one of the prime reasons why he was elected as the president of the ATP Players‘ Council. The Serbian is known to have a good relationship with his fellow citizen and now retired tennis player Anna Ivanovic, with whom he has played several exhibition matches. Djokovic revealed that he also has a good relationship with Maria Sharapova, and that he really looked up to her, and respected her work ethic as well.

Djokovic also said that Sharapova, has a Nadal like attitude when she practices, and that she took her work very seriously. “She’s a great champion”, said Djokovic. “She’s somebody who is hard worker, committed to the game, and has been around for many years. I even practiced with her a couple of times, so I know how committed she is to practice hard and she practices hard as she plays in official match.”

Djokovic also said that most of the people perceived Sharapova as a serious character, while in truth it was not so. “You can see her concentration”, continued Djokovic. “That’s why she’s at the top of the women’s game for so long. She has a mindset of a champion. The other hand, off court she’s a different person than on court. I think people get maybe a wrong idea, because they see her so serious and so focused, doesn’t have much of ups and downs in concentration during the match”, said the US Open champion. “She doesn’t show her personality as much on the official matches. Off court she’s very intelligent. She’s a very nice girl. Yeah, I know her also for quite many years.”

Maria Sharapova though, unlike Djokovic, has been struggling since her return to professional tennis after her doping ban. She has called off the rest of her 2018 season, citing injury related issues. Read about it here:- Sharapova calls off her 2018 tennis season