World No.88 tennis star causes huge Barcelona Open upset and had Novak Djokovic’s help | Tennis | Sport

Serbian tennis star Hamad Medjedovic has caused the biggest upset of the Barcelona Open so far, taking out world No. 7 Alex de Minaur in the second round. The 22-year-old had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw in Barcelona, and has now earned the biggest win of his career, beating second seed De Minaur 6-3 6-4.

Medjedovic first made waves on the ATP Tour when he won the Next Gen Finals, a tournament for the best players aged 20-and-under, in 2023. He’s never been ranked inside the world’s top 50, but 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic has long seen Medjedovic’s potential, and even invested in his career when the Serb was a youngster.

The former world No. 1 first met Medjedovic when he was around 10 years old, then invited his countryman to train with him at his Novak Tennis Centre when Medjedovic was just 16, and helped pay for his training and travel. And it paid off, as the world No. 88 earned his second top-10 win and his best win by ranking in Barcelona, trumping his win over then-world No. 8 Daniil Medvedev in Marseille last year.

“It means a lot, it’s my second top-10 win, maybe the best-ranked player I’ve ever beaten. Especially after playing him in Australia, which was really tough for me,” the qualifier said after shocking De Minaur. “Again, playing him was not easy. Playing with these guys is always a pleasure, and then if you manage to beat them, it’s even better! So I’m really happy.”

Medjedovic might have trained with Djokovic growing up, but he took a leaf out of the Carlos Alcaraz playbook on Wednesday, surprising De Minaur with plenty of dropshots. The Aussie is one of the fastest players on tour, but the 22-year-old caught him out with his clever tactics.

“I think it became a weapon of mine, you know?” Medjedovic added. “We’ve been working a lot on it because I have a big game, big shots, and they don’t really expect all the time that I’m going to finish the point with a dropshot. I don’t know, it didn’t work in Australia, today it worked, hopefully it’s going to work again. That’s it!”

The qualifier is now through to the biggest quarter-final of his career, and faces Nuno Borges for a place in the last four. And Djokovic will no doubt be watching on and supporting his young countryman after playing such a key role in his development.

Medjedovic’s father, Eldin, previously explained just how much Djokovic had helped them financially. In 2022, he told Sportal: “I remember the second conversation I had with Novak ever, we spoke about specific steps in Hamad’s career.

“Novak was presenting me with ideas, what to do with Hamad’s game, and I remember telling him, ‘Nole, I am sorry, but the things you are talking about cost a lot of money’. And he just keeps going about coaches, what are we going to do and how, and then says, ‘All Hamad needs to do is to work hard, I will take care of the rest’. I told him again, ‘Nole, it costs a lot’.

“At that point, Novak told me, ‘Edo, I am not doing this for the money. I make my money elsewhere, my role here is to help. What kind of man would I be if I would not help the kinds that deserve it, that love tennis and – on top of that – achieve good results?’”

Medjedovic has since emerged as one of Serbia’s young prospects on the ATP Tour. Following his victory at the Next Gen Finals, he reached his maiden tour-level final in Marseille last year, and peaked at No. 57 in August.

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