London [UK], July 5 : Australian tennis player Jordan Thompson, who is set to face Novak Djokovic in the second round of the ongoing Wimbledon competition, said that facing the Serbian legend is the "toughest task in tennis at the moment".
Facing Djokovic at the centre court at Wimbledon has become one of the sport's biggest tests in the past decade.
Djokovic is seeking a fifth successive Wimbledon title and a record-equaling eighth title and looks unstoppable.
Thompson hopes that he is the player who could put a full stop to his dominance. The 29-year-old overcame a setback against Brandon Nakashima to seal a second-round clash with the tennis legend for Wednesday.
"Playing Novak is the toughest task in tennis at the moment. I know you have Rafa at Roland Garros. I have played him in Paris and that was incredibly tough, but this up there. You can look at his records and his stats. It is unbelievable. He has 23 slams. The odds are firmly in his favour," said Thompson.
Djokovic enters the match as an overwhelming favourite. Thompson said that a positive mindset would be helpful.
"I always said if you do not believe you can win, you should not go out in the court, so as silly as it sounds, I have got to believe I can win, otherwise there is no point," Thompson said.
"I will do everything I can. I know that he is arguably the best player of all time and I am definitely going to have to play the match of my life if I want to win," he added.
Djokovic has many weapons in his armour, be it on-point groundstrokes, deadly serves and a big-match mentality. There are very few, if any, flaws in his game. Thompson aims to come to the match with a game plan and execute it to the best of his abilities to find those flaws.
"Novak does not look too uncomfortable in most matches. I will look at the tapes. Look at the guys that have beaten him here before and there is not many of those guys that have done, but I have got to do something that he would not be expecting," said the Aussie.
Thompson played Stefanos Tsitsipas last year and lost. He hopes to learn from his experience when he faces off against Djokovic.
"I played Tsitsipas on Court 1 and it was not a great day at the office. He played well. I guess he made me feel pressure and it really affected my game, but I have just got to do my best to stay calm and not let the occasion get to me," Thompson said.
The Australian, who enjoys Rugby and cricket matches in his free time, has a good track record on grass surfaces in his career. He reached the finals of the ATP 250 event in 2019 and 2023 and reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2021. He admits that he loves playing on it.
"I do not know what it is about grass. I just love playing on it. I usually say it is red and it is not clay, so I enjoy being out there. I am not the biggest guy, so I have got to rely on movement and skills to win points and just doing anything I can to throw my opponent off. I would say I play with a fair bit of variety," he concluded.
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