ATP Tour

Djokovic jokes about Alcaraz’s new serve: 'We have to speak about copyrights'

Carlos Alcaraz’s new-look serve has been the hot topic around the tennis world this past week and the Spaniard himself admitted in Melbourne that there might be a familiar influence behind it.

That influence? Novak Djokovic.

On Monday night at the Australian Open, Djokovic was finally asked about the resemblance and he didn’t miss the chance to have some fun with it.

“As soon as I saw it, I sent him a message. I said, we have to speak about the copyrights,” Djokovic said with a smile. “Then when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace I expect, you know, a tribute to me. Every ace that he makes here. Let's see if he's going to stick to the agreement.”

Djokovic, who could only meet Alcaraz in the final in Melbourne, was doing plenty of damage on his own serve in his first-round win at the Australian Open on Monday.

The record 10-time champion won 93 per cent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point en route to victory against Pedro Martinez. Djokovic has now won 100 matches at the hard-court major, moving to within two wins of Roger Federer’s all-time mark of 102.

The 38-year-old Serbian was pleased with how he started.

“It felt good tonight. Let's see how it's going to feel in a few days' time,” Djokovic said on how his body and mind are feeling. “Performance-wise, the feeling on the court, it was great. I couldn't ask for more. Obviously a great serving performance. Just overall felt really good on the court that has made me feel good on it for so many times throughout my career.”

The No. 4 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Djokovic will next face Italian Francesco Maestrelli in what will be a first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two.