Hamad Medjedovic ‘happy to follow in the footsteps’ of Novak Djokovic after clinching Next Gen ATP title

Hamad Medjedovic says he is “happy to follow in the footsteps” of Novak Djokovic after beating Arthur Fils in the final of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Serbian, 20, becomes the lowest-ranked champion in the tournament’s history after overcoming his French opponent 3-4(6) 4-1 4-2 3-4(9) 4-1.

Medjedovic, the world No. 111, squandered two match points in the fourth set, but held his nerve in the fifth to see out the victory after two hours and 11 minutes.

“I can’t believe I have won this title but it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for 2024,” he said.

“Arthur is an amazing player – he’s top 40 for a reason – so I’m really happy.

“It was tough after the first set. I changed my clothes and recovered and started to play good again. I didn’t play good when I had match points in the fourth set. I wasn’t relaxed, I was very stiff.

“Thank God I recovered and I was just trying to stay relaxed as much as I could and I managed to do it in the end.”

Medjedovic is the first Serbian to win the tournament and he had the support of world No. 1 Djokovic throughout the week.

“Two of us from Serbia. He won the big Masters, the real one, and I won the Next Gen,” Medjedovic said.

“Obviously it’s a huge thing and I’m happy to follow in his footsteps in some way.”

Victory tops a fine year for Medjedovic on tour after he reached semi-finals at the Swiss Open and Astana Open.