"I was a little intimidated but Novak Djokovic made me feel so comfortable; he is such a legend" - Australian Open debutant on practicing with Serb
Even before his Australian Open debut, local talent Dane Sweeny had an experience to remember — a practice session with Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park.
Sweeny, who won many hearts with his fighting performance in a five-set loss to Francisco Cerundolo, spoke after the match about the experience of hitting the court with the 24-time Grand Slam champion. The Aussie conceded that he was intimidated at the start of the session against a “legend," but added that Djokovic quickly made him feel comfortable on the court.
Sweeny also said the Serb was joking around and that he complimented him on his shotmaking.
"Just his aura... And I was a little bit intimidated at the start, but Novak Djokovic made me feel so comfortable," the Aussie said in his post-match press conference. "He is such a legend. He was joking around. I was hitting great, and he let me know I was hitting great. So he made me feel really comfortable."
"Yeah, just to have the greatest of all time on the other side of the net, yeah, it was a surreal experience," he added.
The youngster also revealed that some of his friends and family were already at the practice court, hoping to catch a glimpse of Djokovic when he stepped out at the last minute.
"It was a really cool experience," Dan Sweeny said. "A lot of my friends and family that come to watch me were already there to watch the Novak hit, so that was awesome to have them on court."
"I thought it would be nice just to hit together" - Dan Sweeny on being approached to practice with Novak Djokovic
Dan Sweeny also revealed details about how the Australian Open practice session with Novak Djokovic materialized.
The Aussie said he was approached by Tennis Australia and that he had to answer on the spot. While he already had a session planned, Sweeny was keen to experience sharing the court with the tennis legend.
"I got approached by someone from Tennis Australia, Paul Kilderry. He said, Novak is looking for a hit, do you want to hit?" Dane Sweeny said.
"I said, I already had a hit with Omar organized, who also qualified," he continued. "I thought it would be nice just to hit together. I had to answer yes or no on the spot because Novak Djokovic wanted to know. Without even asking Omar, I said, yep, I'll take it."
Sweeny had come through the qualification rounds and was playing at his first Grand Slam tournament. He pushed Cerundolo to five sets in the Australian Open first round, coming up just short in the end.