Djokovic praises Alcaraz: "When he loses, he does it with a smile on his face".

Novak Djokovic will soon be back in action. The Serb, soon to be 38, is recovering from a torn hamstring which forced him to retire from his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic, who will be in Qatar for next week's ATP 500 tournament in Doha, is in search of the 100th title of his career, and will be battling it out with the world's best players, namely Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, for the trophy.

For Vijesti, Djokovic spoke highly of the 21-year-old Spaniard, who in 2022 will become the youngest world No. 1 in the history of men's tennis.

"We have Alcaraz and Sinner developing a new rivalry. Nadal, Federer and I, along with Murray, who I have to include here, have really dominated men's tennis over the last 15-20 years.

We've raised the level and the standards quite high, not only in terms of results, but also with all the other aspects and expectations that a champion and a world number one should have, which is to play that role of ambassador for the sport.

When it comes to charisma, Alcaraz stood out, not only because of his exploits and exceptional results for such a young age, but also because he's a very charismatic person, a fair-play player and kind to everyone," assured the Serb.

"And when he loses, he does it with a smile, which is really impressive for such a young man who doesn't have much experience, but acts as if he's been on the circuit for over ten years.

I think the cause of all this is his good upbringing, his environment, his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, former number one and Grand Slam champion, who taught him from an early age what it means to be an athlete.

It's not just about performance and perseverance, but also about the values and principles that must be upheld and nurtured in sport.

He passed this on to him, and you could say that it serves as a guideline for the younger generations who follow tennis and who would one day like to achieve the same goals as he did," he concluded about his young rival.