'Novak Djokovic told me secrets in phone call out of the blue - now I'm out to beat him'

Novak Djokovic may soon regret a spontaneous phone call with Jakub Mensik, in which he divulged some of his tricks of the trade. That's because the two men are set to meet in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Friday, each holding hopes of going on to win the tournament.

A rising star in the world of tennis, 19-year-old Mensik is currently ranked 65th by the ATP - many thanks to his impressive 26-16 record in the singles game. And while he is miles away from reaching the greatness achieved by Djokovic - who is 18 years his senior - the youngster has previously received some telling advice from the 24-time Grand Slam winner.

In an interview with L'Equipe, Mensik's coach Tomas Josefus explained how the youngster received an out-of-the-blue phone call from an unknown Serbian number in early 2022. He said: "We were taking stock when Jakub received a video on his phone from a Serbian number that he didn’t know.

"He did not hesitate to share his knowledge and contacts. We had closed doors in front of us, Novak opened them." Mensik, meanwhile explained that he initially doubted the legitimacy of the message, given the random nature of it. He said in the same interview: "I first thought it was a hoax, but it was really him. Novak is my childhood idol, you can imagine my joy." He continued: "Weight, lunch, recovery… Everything he did, I did.

Mensik also explained that Djokovic recommended contacts to him and Josefus and that many of his preparations are a result of that incredibly spontaneous exchange that day. "I understood a lot of things there. I observed him, I tried to analyse his functioning, how he warms up, stretches, recovers. He recommended them (contacts) to us and gave us their number. Many things we put in place were thanks to him.”

Despite failing to win a Grand Slam of his own as of yet, Mensik has been taking the world of tennis by storm recently. The youngster made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Croatia Open back in July before he was eliminated by Lorenzo Musetti, as well as the final of the Qatar Open in February. While he was ultimately bested by Karen Khachanov on that occasion by scores of 7-6 and 6-4, Mensik received an abundance of kudos for his victory over Andy Murray in that competition.

And after his victory, Mensik also admitted that he couldn't have done it without spending time with Djokovic and learning all of his tricks of the trade. Speaking after the victory, he said: "It was after 2022, Australian Open finals. He knew that he was my biggest idol, so he invited me to Belgrade and then after to Montenegro to spend some days with him practising, you know, doing all the stuff off the court also.

"It's really nice that one of the best players in history invited me and I had that opportunity to play against him, to practice with him. So all of these experiences and advice for the future and for matches are just really good."

At the Shanghai Masters, Mensik beat Pedro Martinez in his opening game, before a masterclass over sixth-ranked Andrey Rublev in the second round. Wins over Alexander Shevchenko and Grigor Dimitrov put him in contention with Djokovic on Friday. Djokovic, meanwhile has glided to the same round of the competition with wins over Alex Michelsen, Flavio Cobolli, and Roman Safiullin.