Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published Friday, 08 May 2026, 22:14 / Updated Friday, 08 May 2026 22:14
Dino Prizmic (20 years old, 79th place ATP) achieved the biggest victory of his career, eliminating Novak Djokovic (38 years old, #4) in the 2nd round in Rome, score 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, as the Serbian claimed medical problems.
After winning the first set smoothly, Djokovic faced physical problems in the second set. The thirty-eight-year-old tennis player bent over and rested his hands on his knees between points, and during court changes he walked slowly to his seat. The Serbian showed more signs of life in the third set but ultimately lacked the energy to overcome Prizmic, who remained impressively calm and took advantage of the opportunity.
Dino Prizmic beat Novak Djokovic in the second round in Rome: “He is my idol”
“In the first set he played incredible, and I, towards the end of that set, tried to find my game and I succeeded, so it's very, very good,” said Prizmic, excited, according to sportal.blic.rs. Djokovic gave the world number 79 a smiling hug at the net, and Prizmic later revealed his idol was pleased to see his progress after giving him some advice in Melbourne a few years ago.
“He told me that he thinks I'm moving a lot better. He's very happy because even when I played against him at the Australian Open, he told me a lot of things, so I respect him a lot for that. I think after that match against Novak, a lot happened with my injury, so maybe I wasn't ready for this big stage. But now I feel really good, so I just want to continue like this, and that's it,” said Dino Prizmic.
Dino Prizmic also showed his respect for Djokovic after defeating the former six-time champion in Rome. On the camera lens he wrote: “Nole, it was a pleasure.”
It's hard for me to say anything right now. I'll just say I have a lot of respect for Novak, he's my idol, so this was definitely a great match for me. I played incredible, I just want to stay focused and ready for the next duel.
–Dino Prismic, according to the cited source
