Who is Dino Prizmic? Story behind the wonder kid who pushed Novak Djokovic all the way
Novak Djokovic hailed him as a future star of the game after a stunning performance rocked the 10-time Australian Open champion onto the ropes in the first round of this year’s tournament, yet Dino Prizmic has been a rising star of the game for some time.
Croatian qualifier Prizmic was briefly a break up in the third set and kept battling after Djokovic stepped things up before the defending champion finally clinched a 6-2 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-4 victory on his seventh match point after four hours and one minute.
This is Djokovic’s 73rd grand slam tournament and he was full of praise for 18-year-old debutant Prizmic, saying: “He deserved every applause, every credit that he got tonight.
“He’s an amazing player I must say, so mature for his age. This is his moment and it could easily have been his match as well. He made me really run for my money for sure tonight. Amazing performance for someone who is 18 years old and has never had experience of playing on this stage.
“I certainly want to be in his corner, so hopefully he will invite me because we’re going to be seeing a lot of him in the future.”
PRIZMIC’S EARLY SUCCESSES
Prizmic announced his arrival to the wider world on the biggest stage of them all in Melbourne, yet this wonderkid has been making waves in the junior rankings for some time.
He made his mark on the ITF World Tennis Tour last year, being named as one of the ITF’s Class of 2023 after some stand-out performances.
At the back end of the 2022 season, Prizmic went on a run on the ITF World Tennis Tour that put him in a position to surge up the ATP rankings in 2023.
He won four titles in his last five ITF tournaments of 2022, embarking on a 15-match winning streak that December to end the year inside the world’s Top 500.
Prizmic went back into the junior ranks to win the boys’ singles title at the French Open last year and he is now clearly ready to challenge on the senior tour after his impressive performance against Djokovic.
WHAT HE SAYS
In an interview with the ITF, Prizmic highlighted how their ITF World Tennis Tour has allowed him to develop his game and make the transition from the junior ranks to the senior stage.
“Playing the ITF Tour had a great impact on my game,” Prizmic said.
“[ITF World Tennis Tour] tournaments in general are a good transition from the juniors to the professional tennis tour because I got to experience and adjust to the speed and level of professional tennis. They also showed me that even though I am much younger than most of those guys, I can play evenly with them.”
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After Djokovic’s warm comments after their match in Melbourne, Prizmic suggested he will take inspiration from the world No 1 as he look to take the next steps in his career.
“Novak gave me a lot of compliments, which is a huge deal for me and I really appreciate it,” said Prizmic.
“His kind words are a great satisfaction for me. The stadium was full, people were into it, I just wanted to showcase my skills in the best possible manner.
“It was the best match of my career so far, but I still have to improve a lot of things, I want to get better every day. I just started playing on a more serious level, I hope I will stay motivated like I have been before now. I shared a battle with Novak, saw where I am at the moment – I wanted to give him a hard time, but now I want him to win the title.”
“I have over 10,000 messages in my phone right now. I will answer in the next couple of days to the people I know, so far I just talked to my closest ones.”
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Prizmic is up to No 166 in the live ATP ranking, with his progression to the main draw at the Australian Open seeing him make a leap of 21 places.
That new ranking will not be enough to get him into main draws at the big events on the ATP Tour, so he will return to the ATP Challenger Tour, the second level of the men’s game.
He won his first ATP Challenger Tour event in August and will be a big threat as he returns to that level of the game fuelled by Djokovic’s glowing endorsement.
Success in Challenger events will give Prizmic a chance to leap into the top 100 of the ATP rankings and that is when this impressive young man will make faster strides forward in his game.
VERDICT
One performance does not make a career, but Prizmic’s display against Djokovic was too good for it to be a one-off.
This kid has real quality in all areas of his game and for someone so young, he also appears to be a complete player.
His temperament stood up to the ultimate challenge against Djokovic and he maintained an impressive level of tennis for over four hours.
We might not see Prizmic in too many top level ATP Tour events in the first half of 2024, but expect him to be in the top 100 of the ATP rankings by the end of this year and from there, everything is possible.
