Watch: Novak Djokovic makes fun of Carlos Gomez-Herrera in Monte Carlo
While training for the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters, Novak Djokovic and his team had fun pulling Spanish player Carlos Gomez-Herrera's leg.
Not long ago, Gomez-Herrera joined Djokovic's team as his sparring partner. The two have been friends for around 15 years and have even partnered with each other in a couple of tournaments. The pair played together in Dubai in 2014, losing in the first round to Tomasz Bednarek and Lukas Dlouhy in a third-set tiebreaker.
They also reached the final of the ATP 250 Mallorca tournament on grass in 2021, where an ankle injury to the Spaniard forced them to withdraw before the title clash.
Gomez-Herrera was present in Djokovic's player's box when the latter won his 22nd Grand Slam title at the 2023 Australian Open earlier this year.
Claudio Zimaglia, who replaced Ulises Badio as the World No. 1's physiotherapist in December 2022, shared a video on his social media in which the rest of the team can be seen making fun of Gomez-Herrera.
"@djokernole, Marco & Claudio making fun of poor @xarlygomez. Looks like they’re having plenty of fun," a fan tweeted.
The 35-year-old started the video by saying:
"Introduction of Carlos Gomez-Herrera in reality."
. @djokernole, Marco & Claudio making fun of poor @xarlygomez 😂😂😂
Looks like they’re having plenty of fun 😂
📸: instagram.com/reel/CqpctJXgE… https://t.co/CmhiRy04kK
During the 2023 Australian Open, the Serbian star revealed that Gomez-Herrera was his sparring partner.
"Carlos, whom I have known for fifteen years now – it is great to have him as a sparring partner, because with him I can work on some specifics I probably cannot when I am practicing with some of my colleagues, future opponents," he said.
Djokovic's team also consists of his coach and former player Goran Ivanisevic, physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic, and fitness trainer Marco Panichi.
Novak Djokovic's former coach looks forward to French Open 2023 to see if he could lift his 23rd Major
Boris Becker worked with Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016. The German recently heaped praise on the Big 3 (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and the Serb) and stated that he was interested to see who wins the 2023 French Open to become the 23-time Major winner.
“We have interesting times where we have arguably the greatest of all time taking all the titles away from everybody else,” Becker said. "There was a time where each of these players had 20 majors, which is unheard of. To have one is maybe possible, but three — impossible. Now Federer has retired, Nadal is possibly on one leg at the moment, Djokovic is also 35."
“Both have 22 majors, the French Open is coming up. It would be interesting to see a final between Nadal and Djokovic to decide ultimately who has the most Grand Slams of all time, so stay tuned," he added.
Djokovic recently regained his No. 1 ranking and is set to stay at the top due to an injury to Carlos Alcaraz.