“We Have Similar Styles” – Borna Coric Opens Up on Record Against Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic and Borna Coric have some similarities in life. Both hail from the Slavic nations of Serbia and Croatia respectively who are also neighboring countries. Both share a somewhat similar style of play in tennis and finally, both rely on their backhands as their most powerful weapon. And yet, there is a huge disparity between the pair when it comes to their head-to-head record.

Novak Djokovic vs Borna Coric

Coric recently gave an interview where he revealed a great many things about himself. In the same interview, he also talked about the Big Three and his record against them. He has already beaten Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, twice in his career. However, he has never beaten Novak Djokovic.

In fact, he has a tied head-to-head against Nadal with 2 wins each. Against Federer, he has 4 losses to go with his 2 wins. But when it comes to Djokovic, Borna has lost all 3 of their encounters so far. The Croatian has never even won a set against the World No. 1.

Even if we expand our group to the Big Four, Coric has a 2-2 record against Andy Murray.

It is evident from his record against these three that Coric has the talent to beat the top players. So what about Novak makes it so difficult for Borna to beat him?

Here’s what he has to say on the topic.

“All four are incredible players and have done so much for tennis. Novak and I have a similar style of play and he does everything a little better. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to defeat him yet.”

That is a fairly good assessment of the match-up by Coric. The pair do share certain similarities on the tennis courts and Novak Djokovic is notorious for disrupting his opponents’ game-plan.

Djokovic and Coric both like to hog the baseline and take control of the rally before they finish it off. Coric, though, can be a bit more defensive than the Serb. When you go up against Novak with a similar game-plan to his, Novak is going to win the majority of the time.

Coric has the talent and time is very much on his side. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him rise into the Top-10 at some point in his career.