'I learned a lot from Federer, Nadal, Djokovic,' said Borna Coric

Sunday, 04 April 2021 at 08:30

World no. 12 Borna Coric has played only three ATP tournaments in 2021, reaching the Rotterdam semi-final and staying away from the court in March due to an injury.

Borna will return in May after skipping Monte Carlo and Belgrade, working hard on his fitness and preparing for a comeback. In a recent interview, Borna spoke about his first tennis steps, idols and what he learned from playing against three legends, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

"I have always enjoyed life on the tour. The only tricky thing was tennis' quality, but when you come to the ATP tour, you have good conditions for the hotels, courts, and the possibility of practicing more. Regarding transition, I was never really struggling except for the period when I couldn't break into the top-30. I started playing tennis when I was four and a half years old. My sister was playing, she was six back then, and so my father did as well.

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They would bring me to their practices, so I fell in love with the game and became interested. My idols were Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic. I was impressed while watching the Croatian Davis Cup team winning the title back in 2005; it was a massive moment for me as a young tennis player, and it inspired me. From that day, I was hoping to be on the team one day. I had some excellent tournaments last year.

It is a shame that I am injured right now because I felt I was playing terrific tennis in Rotterdam. But at the end of the day, it is tennis, and you may get injured sometimes. It's nothing major, I need to rest for a couple of weeks, and I am sure I will be ready for the clay season. One tournament I would like to win is the Croatian Open in Umag.

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'Roger Federer is a great champion but not a good person,' said Srdjan Djokovic

From the bigger tournaments, I would choose Wimbledon or Roland Garros. If I need to choose between being ranked No. 1 or winning a Major, I would prefer to win a Major. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are tennis legends; it was amazing to play against them. I learned a lot from those matches, and each one of them is unique," said Borna Coric.