Jannik Sinner's coach reveals Novak Djokovic provided tips to the Italian teen after their Monte Carlo match

Jannik Sinner's coach Riccardo Piatti recently shed some light on Novak Djokovic's willingness to help younger players, even if they are his competitors.

Piatti had approached Djokovic after his second-round match at the Monte Carlo Masters against Sinner, asking for his thoughts on the Italian's performance. Djokovic happily obliged, and highlighted a few important areas for Sinner to improve upon.

The 19-year-old then hit the practice courts the very next day to work on Novak Djokovic's inputs, as per Piatti.

"I have a good relationship with Djokovic," Piatti said. "After his match against Jannik, I went to see him and asked him how he saw Sinner on the court. He gave me 3-4 tips that got me thinking. The next day, Jannik went straight to train with these tips in mind."

Jannik Sinner was unable to pierce through Novak Djokovic's defenses on the slow court of Monte Carlo, and lost the match 6-4, 6-2. But even though Sinner looked a little out of ideas towards the end as the ball kept coming back, he did impress in patches during the first set.

It is pertinent to note that Ricardo Piatti has also been Novak Djokovic's coach in the past; he worked with the Serb for almost a year between 2005 and 2006. While Djokovic wanted to continue with Piatti as his head coach, the 62-year-old couldn't commit to working on tour full-time.

Novak Djokovic tries to understand every moment, this is what I am trying to do: Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner

After his defeat to Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner himself pointed out a couple of aspects in which he lags behind the 18-time Major champion. According to the Italian, he needs to learn the art of defending from Djokovic, especially on the big points.

Sinner also believes that, like the World No. 1, he must learn to 'understand every moment' so that he can adapt to the situation and possibly outsmart his opponent.

"Obviously, what I see is that Novak defends better than me when he arrives in end of race," Sinner said. "I think the biggest part where I have to learn, but I already knew that, is understanding the different situations in a game. Djokovic tries to understand every moment. This is what I am trying to do."

Novak Djokovic failed to build on his win over Jannik Sinner, losing the very next day to Dan Evans. Djokovic and Sinner are now heading in different directions to continue their respective clay seasons.

While Djokovic will headline the Serbia Open in his hometown, Sinner will join Rafael Nadal at the Barcelona Open.