Novak Djokovic hilariously trolls young star who issued Spider-Man challenge
Novak Djokovic has delivered a brutal and funny response to Matteo Arnaldi after the rising ATP star issued a challenge to the great Serb.
Arnaldi amazed fans by doing the splits while sliding during a point in his 5-7, 3-6 defeat to world No 5 Andrey Rublev in the second round of the Vienna Open this week.
Djokovic is considered to be the most flexible player in tennis and is renowned for his ability to slide on court, having showcased this stunningly by doing the splits to retrieve shots throughout his career.
The 36-year-old Serbian’s elasticity has led fans to compare him to fictional superhero Spider-Man, who possesses superhuman flexibility.
Arnaldi’s impressive effort led to him being likened to both Djokovic and Spider-Man on social media and he captioned an image comparison made between him and the tennis legend with a message.
On his Instagram story, Arnaldi tagged Djokovic’s account and wrote: “I’m coming for you.”
Djokovic has given his response to the Italian on his own story and suggested the 22-year-old has work to do to challenge him for the Spider-Man title.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion captioned the image of Arnaldi doing the splits compared with the superhero and said: “First, you need to be facing the net and not the wall. Then we can talk.”
Nole responded to Matteo. 👀
🇮🇹 Arnaldi: “Nole, I am coming for you”.
🇷🇸 Djokovic: “First, you need to be facing the net and not the wall. Then we can talk”.
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) October 27, 2023
In an interview with Il Messaggero last year, Arnaldi revealed the world No 1 is his idol and compared his style and flexibility to that of the tennis legend.
“Djokovic has always been my idol, in Rome I even warmed him up before a match, he is my reference. Proportionally there are similarities: I too would define myself as a counter-attacker and I have always done the splits. Believe me, I am little Djokovic,” declared the Italian.
The 22-year-old discussed the experience of practising with Djokovic during the 2022 Italian Open in Rome.
“Technically I found him extremely clean compared to the others I have played with up to now. His ball is very flat and you have a hard time playing with it, even on clay. It takes away your time, you can’t do anything you have in mind,” explained Arnaldi.
Arnaldi has made an impressive breakthrough on the ATP Tour this year and holds a 19-14 record at tour-level in 2023. His highlights include making the semi-finals of the ATP 250 event in Umag in July and reaching the last 16 of the US Open last month.
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