{"id":1833,"date":"2026-03-06T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1833"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:00:48","slug":"tim-henman-admits-he-was-finding-it-hard-to-believe-what-he-was-seeing-with-novak-djokovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1833","title":{"rendered":"Tim Henman admits he was \u2018finding it hard to believe what he was seeing\u2019 with Novak Djokovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> is preparing to play his first match since he lost in the Australian Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, with former British No 1 Tim Henman admitting he \u2018could not believe what he was seeing\u2019 from the Serbian in the opening Grand Slam of the year.<\/p>\n

Djokovic struggled to find his best form as he came into the Australian Open without any match practice since his final event of last season in November and he looked rusty as he made it through to the quarter-finals in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

He was then on his way out of the tournament as he lost the first two sets of his last-eight clash against Lorenzo Musetti, before injury struck down the Italian and handed Djokovic a pass to a semi-final against Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n

Henman was in the commentary box in Melbourne for the Djokovic vs Sinner match and he has told Tennis365 that he was not expecting the 24-time Grand Slam-winning legend to challenge an opponent who had beaten him time and again over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

That pessimism was heightened after Sinner dominated the opening exchanges, but Djokovic found a way to bounce back and left Henman stunned as he pulled off a remarkable five-set win.<\/a><\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Novak Djokovic predicts when Serena Williams could make stunning comeback<\/a><\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic reveals what he proved at Australian Open in message to Indian Wells rivals<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first three rounds, I definitely have my doubts about Djokovic. He wasn\u2019t at the right level.\u201d Henman told Tennis365. \u201cThen he is two sets to nil down against Musetti and you think, he\u2019s going home for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was so amazing against Sinner was he lost the first three game and he was completely off the pace. I was sitting in the commentary box thinking, this could be embarrassing. I really felt that you could get taken to the cleaners because his level wasn\u2019t there, but so many people have said in the past, you never write off these great champions and that match was a perfect example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that he then changed his tactics, second, third, four sets and became so aggressive, going down the line and not missing, it was absolutely incredible. \u2029You know, I was finding it hard to believe what I was watching. I really was. \u2029And I\u2019ve watched him for 20 plus years. It was an amazing performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henman went on to suggest he was starting to believe Djokovic could go on to beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final after he took the opening set, but reality struck home for the 10-time Australian Open champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he won the first set 6-2 against Alcaraz, you\u2019re thinking, \u2018wow this could be Grand Slam No 25\u2019, but the difference between Alcaraz and Sinner, I think, was very evident.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinner, you know, didn\u2019t change his game plan because he has been the best hard court player for the last couple of years and he tried to fight fire with fire. He was just going for it. And if anything, that played on Djokovic\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Whereas you saw Alcaraz, who\u2019s got the far greater variation, start to play with shape, start to just extend some of the rallies, use the slice back end. And that was a big turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic is scheduled to meet Alcaraz once again in the semi-finals at the Indian Wells Masters<\/a>, but the Serbian is certain to face big tests before he is reunited on a court with the Spanish maestro.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz makes confession about Novak Djokovic\u2019s \u2018impressive\u2019 record<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sky Sports is the year-round home of tennis. Watch the biggest stars on the ATP and WTA Tours at the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open live this March, exclusively on Sky Sports and NOW.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Tim Henman admits he was \u2018finding it hard to believe what he was seeing\u2019 with Novak Djokovic<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic is preparing to play his first match since he lost in the Australian Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, with former British No 1 Tim Henman admitting he \u2018could not believe what he was seeing\u2019 from the Serbian in the opening Grand Slam of the year. Djokovic struggled to find his best form as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}