Novak Djokovic impressed with young fan's tennis skills and wants to play with him soon

Novak Djokovic was impressed by the tennis skills of a young fan and has expressed his intention to play with him in the near future.

Arat Hosseini is a football prodigy hailing from Iran who has taken the world of social media by storm. His father has been using Instagram to showcase the eight-year-old's incredible football skills and trick shots, which have garnered him a massive following online.

Arat's incredible football skills caught the attention of the 22-time Grand Slam champion, who began following the youngster on Instagram in 2020. Recently, Arat took to social media to share a video of him playing tennis and said that anyone who is a friend of Djokovic has to learn the sport.

The Serb shared Arat's video on his Instagram and expressed his desire to play tennis with the eight-year-old in the near future.

"I love it 💪 Arat! Hope to play with you soon :)" the Serb captioned his Instagram story.

Novak Djokovic's Instagram story

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Novak Djokovic unimpressed with slow court conditions at the family-licensed Srpska Open

The Serb at the 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters

Novak Djokovic expressed his dissatisfaction with the sluggish court conditions he faced at the Srpska Open in Banja Luka. The tournament is licensed under the ownership of the Serb's family.

Following his third-round exit from the Monte-Carlo Masters, Djokovic shifted his focus to the ATP 250 Srpska Open championship. The tournament is temporarily replacing the Serbia Open as the World No. 1's family prepares the Serbian venue to apply for ATP 500 status. His brother, Djorde, retained his place as the tournament director for the event.

In his opening match, Djokovic defeated French tennis player Luca Van Assche 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2. Following his win, the Serb commented on the challenging playing conditions. He noted that the court was the slowest he had ever played on, making it difficult to hit the ball past Van Assche.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said in his on-court interview. “This would probably rank as the slowest court, slowest conditions I’ve ever played in, to be honest. I couldn’t penetrate through the court. I couldn’t put any ball past him.”

Djokovic acknowledged the tough competition posed by the French youngster and stated that he was happy to come through with the win.

“He was on every single ball for a set-and-a-half until I started to get some rhythm going,” he said. “I’m happy with the way I finished the match. Of course I can always play better, but a win is a win.”