Renowned tour coach Bryan Smith — longtime mentor to Rajeev Ram and coach of rising 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy — speaks with ITD’s Surya Rajendhiran at Melbourne Park about Basavareddy’s 4-set clash against Novak Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena.
Nishesh Basavareddy · Australian Open 2025 Men’s Singles
Grand Slam Debut · Rod Laver Arena| Round | Match | Score | Result | Match Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | (WC)Nishesh Basavareddy (USA, 107) l. (7)Novak Djokovic (SRB) | 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 | LOST | Won opening set 6-4 against 10-time AO champion Djokovic |
“Nishesh is really good at focusing on what’s coming rather than what has already happened — seeing that he could play at that level and take a set off Novak on Rod Laver Arena is a huge confidence booster.”
— Coach Bryan Smith · Melbourne Park ExclusiveWe’re here at the Australian Open with renowned tennis coach Bryan Smith. He’s recently been working with rising star Nishesh Basavareddy, who just had a fantastic showing against Novak Djokovic. Coach Smith is also well-known for his work with doubles champion Rajeev Ram. Welcome, Bryan
COACH BRYAN SMITH I think he did a lot of things that he was hoping to do. Just to be able to see that he could play at that level and push Novak was obviously a good confidence booster.
COACH BRYAN SMITH It was good. He just had a little bit of cramping in the second set at 3-all. Got some electrolytes and was able to recover from it.
COACH BRYAN SMITH Honestly with Nishesh, he’s really good at focusing on what’s coming. He doesn’t seem to get too caught up in the hype. It didn’t seem that much different than usual. We just went over his game plan, what he was going to try to do, and how to avoid getting distracted by everything going on around him. I thought he did a great job with that because it’s hard for someone playing in their first ATP 250 just two weeks before. It was nice to see him perform at that level on that stage.
COACH BRYAN SMITH It was awesome. I mean, he could have lost first round of qualifying. He got through a tough one and just performed well the whole week. It was nice to see him get on center court and look comfortable, not overwhelmed. I thought he did a great job of keeping his composure, sticking to the game plan, and competing the whole week. We got some great experience and some good wins.
COACH BRYAN SMITH I think it’s held up pretty well so far. What he’s done in the last month has been awesome. I think NextGen Jeddah definitely gave him some confidence being around the top younger guys. He’s played mostly Challengers, so to be able to perform at that level has been great. You never know until you get to see it, but it’s gone well so far.
COACH BRYAN SMITH Yeah, he’s going to work on different aspects of his game. I think the serve and the return, definitely. Novak, I think, served better and made a lot more returns. So, we’ll focus on the serve and return and continue to work on transitioning to the net. I think those would probably be the main ones, but he’s going to continue to work on everything in his game.
COACH BRYAN SMITH For Nishesh, I think this week he’s off. He’s going to train for a couple of weeks. I believe he’s signed up for the ATP Delray Beach Open and then hopefully Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami.
COACH BRYAN SMITH Christian did a great job. Austin had rolled his ankle in Brisbane, so Rajeev was lucky enough to get Christian. Christian played a great week, got some good wins, and I thought they performed very well together for having not played together before. It was a good week for Raj and for Christian.
COACH BRYAN SMITH He had something in his leg act up. We’re trying to be cautious with any kind of injury, especially coming into a major.
COACH BRYAN SMITH Thank you very much. Appreciate it.