“Can you stop winning?” – Novak Djokovic banters with Andrey Rublev at Australian Open, Russian responds in kind

Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev bumped into each other in Melbourne ahead of the 2024 Australian Open, and shared a light moment.Djokovic and Rublev are both set to play the Happy Slam, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, January 14. This will be the Serb’s 19th appearance at the Australian Open, whereas Rublev will grace the Rod Laver Arena for the eighth time in his career.

Djokovic has won the tournament 10 times in his career so far. This year, the Serb leads the top half of the draw as the top seed and defending champion.On the other hand, Rublev is scheduled to take on Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild in the opener on Sunday as the fifth seed. The Russian enters the Melbourne Major on the back of a title-winning run at the recently concluded Hong Kong Open.Considering Rublev’s red-hot form, Djokovic made a hilarious request of him during an encounter inside the lobby of Rod Laver Arena, as seen in a recently released video on social media.

“Can you stop winning,” the Serb asked the Russian in a video posted by the Australian Open’s official X account.

Rublev responded in kind, telling the World No. 1 that he wanted to steal some of his talent.

“Correct! I’m trying to, just to take a little bit of your talent,” he said.

Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev had their first Australian Open duel in the year 2023, amid the Serb’s title-winning run. The duo came face to face in the quarterfinals and Djokovic came out on top 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

The two players have played against each other six times thus far, with the Serb leading 5-1 in the head-to-head. They first squared off in 2019 for a round-robin match at the Year-end Championships. Djokovic defeated Rublev in straight sets.The Russian avenged the loss in style with a victory in Djokovic’s hometown Belgrade, in the 2022 Serbia Open final. Since then, however, Rublev has failed to outperform the Serb.The duo met one more time in 2022, in a group-stage tie at the ATP Finals, where the 24-time Slam champion won.In 2023, Djokovic defeated the Russian two times in addition to his Australian Open victory. He won in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and again in the semifinals of the Paris Masters, going on to lift the trophy at the latter tournament.