"If Novak Djokovic wasn’t an athlete, he would be an A student”- Fans amazed by Serb’s language skills at 2018 Shanghai Masters trophy ceremony 

Tennis fans on Twitter (now X) recently expressed their amazement at a clip of Novak Djokovic speaking fluent Mandarin during the 2018 Shanghai Masters.

The Shanghai Masters has made a comeback on the ATP tour after a four-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Asia's only ATP 1000 tournament, scheduled to be held from October 4 to 15, will be graced with the presence of 19 of the top 20 players in the ATP rankings. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is the notable absentee.

Four-time champion Djokovic's last triumph at the event came in 2018, when he defeated Croatia's Borna Coric in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Remarkably, the Serb didn't drop a single set and wasn't broken once in the entire tournament.

Novak Djokovic was eliminated by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals in 2019, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6.

During the 2018 Shanghai Masters trophy ceremony, Novak Djokovic began speaking in fluent Mandarin out of the blue, leaving the fans and his opponent, Borna Coric, with their jaws on the floor.

One fan noted that if Novak Djokovic hadn't been such a talented athlete, he would have been an exceptional student due to his intelligence and problem-solving ability.

"If djokovic wasnt an athlete he qpuld have been an A student, he seems quite intelligent, not only his language learning curve ,but i think even his game play involves a lot more problem solving than most," a fan wrote.

Novak Djokovic's linguistic skills and tennis prowess impressed another user.

"I think I am equally envious/in awe of his language ability as I am of his tennis ability," they posted.

Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:

Novak Djokovic decided to learn Spanish on the fly during his time at the 2023 Davis Cup

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24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic can speak 11 languages. He used a portion of this year's Davis Cup press conference in Valencia to learn Spanish.

Fresh off winning his fourth US Open title, which ties him for the all-time Grand Slam record with Margaret Court, Djokovic joined Team Serbia for their Group C clash against Spain.

During a press conference ahead of the tie, Djokovic asked the translator to help him with a particular phrase and wrote the response down in his phone's notes app.

“What’s the word for ‘missing' in Spanish,” Djokovic asked.