Struff's surprise coup - "I've never seen him so good," marvels loser Djokovic

After losing the final in Brussels, Jan-Lennard Struff achieved another notable success on the tennis tour. The 36-year-old surprisingly won in the round of 16 of the tournament in Basel against former world number one Novak Djokovic from Serbia 6:7 (4:7), 7:5, 7:6 (7:5).

Struff sealed his first success after eight defeats against the 39-year-old in the thrilling game after 2:35 hours with his 27th ace of the game. In the quarter-finals, the Warsteiner will now face the Portuguese Nuno Borges.

"I'm very happy, especially with the way I played: courageously and always moving forward. And even in difficult situations. I knew I had to play well because he had beaten me cleanly at the US Open. I took the close points my way with courageous decisions," said Struff after the game.

At the US Open 2025, in their last meeting, Djokovic won 6:3, 6:3, 6:2 in the round of 16. Now the defeated Serb found words of praise for Struff after the game. “I’ve never seen him so good,” he said.

There was also a rather incredulous reaction from Austria. There, Alexander Zverev heard about Struff's success on the sidelines of his coronation as the new world number one. “Struffi beat Djokovic?” asked Zverev. "I hope that he continues to play like that and not that there will be that one week again where he plays great and then doesn't win a match for another six weeks. That would be a bit of a shame. But if that's not the case, I'm very happy to have the best number two in a team competition. That would be very, very helpful," he said, looking ahead to the Davis Cup.

In the quarter-finals of the team competition, Germany will face Great Britain in Bologna at the end of November. In the last round against Croatia in Halle/Westphalia, not far from his home in Warstein, Struff was not taken into account by team boss Michael Kohlmann. “I had a great run, I have to take my self-confidence with me now,” he said.

Just last Sunday, Struff narrowly missed the second ATP title of his career. At the tournament in Brussels he lost to the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor in the final 6:4, 3:6 and 4:6. Struff achieved his only tournament victory so far in Munich in 2024.