Did a benefactor help Bublyk reclaim the title of Asia's No.1? Bublyk reveals top players approach Djokovic for his secrets

Following Bublyk’s return to the top spot in Asia, numerous people admired how quickly the Kazakh athlete recovered his form, yet few realized Djokovic contributed to this success.

When Bublyk lost his Asia No.1 ranking to Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen and dropped beyond the top 80, most thought a comeback was improbable.

However, unexpectedly, despite low external expectations, Bublyk quickly staged an impressive turnaround, steadily improving his results and frequently winning on the tour, ultimately reclaiming the Asia No.1 title and earning newfound respect.

The Kazakh star recently revealed that many believed his poor court performances were solely due to his condition, but in fact, it was partly because of his “uncooperative racket,” which failed him at crucial moments and disrupted his concentration.

It turned out that Bublyk’s racket, strung with natural gut strings, was extremely sensitive to environmental changes; fluctuations in temperature and humidity made it “almost impossible to accurately feel the ball’s feedback on court.” This issue troubled the Kazakh player deeply and caused a mental block, leading to his inconsistent performance.

According to insiders, after losing the Asia No.1 spot, Bublyk felt helpless about this problem and immediately thought of Serbian star Djokovic.

Bublyk turned to Djokovic because the Serbian champion is “a player who has studied equipment knowledge to the extreme.” Facing a personal issue he couldn’t solve, Bublyk naturally sought Djokovic’s help to quickly overcome the difficulty.

“I was in big trouble using natural gut strings made from cow gut, which are sensitive to every environmental factor—humidity, heat, cold—it was a nightmare. I asked him what was wrong with these strings, and he explained all the technical details, telling me what to do and how to adjust the string tension,” Bublyk revealed. He was very anxious and poured out all his concerns to Djokovic as soon as they sat together. He had expected Djokovic might hold back due to their competitive relationship, but Djokovic was completely open, clearly explaining the solution, which Bublyk deeply appreciated and benefited from.

After Djokovic helped solve the problem, Bublyk admitted those issues never returned. Once his focus was restored, he performed like a different player on court, which was one of the key reasons he regained the Asia No.1 position—Djokovic’s assistance was invaluable.

However, when asked why Djokovic was willing to help, Bublyk humorously pointed out that besides Djokovic’s well-known generosity, he felt lucky not to be a top player directly competing with Djokovic, which is why he received such support.

Bublyk’s comment stemmed from another incident he experienced.

After Djokovic fixed Bublyk’s racket string issue, news spread quickly in the tennis community. Soon, a top player approached Bublyk, hoping to extract from him the details Djokovic had shared about solving the string problem.

“Later, a top player came to me asking to repeat exactly what Novak said, wanting all the details,” Bublyk said. From this, he guessed Djokovic wouldn’t share such knowledge and solutions with direct competitors. Therefore, he felt extremely honored to have received this “privilege” from Djokovic, because if he were a top player directly competing with Djokovic like this visitor, he might still be struggling with racket string issues now.

After Bublyk revealed this story, fans and netizens raised a very interesting question: that top player who directly competes with Djokovic wanted to get Djokovic’s secrets from Asia’s No.1—did Bublyk end up sharing the information or not?!(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moonriver’s Starry Sky)