‘Playing out of his mind’: Novak Djokovic hails Rinky Hijikata after Australian’s stunning win in Paris

Rinky Hijikata has revealed he almost didn’t even take the court before notching the biggest win of his career to send the great Novak Djokovic crashing out of ATP Finals contention.

Continuing his inspired run from qualifying, Hijikata lit up the indoor Plenitude Arena to bring down Djokovic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to surge into the Paris Masters third round.

In sending Djokovic packing under a barrage of baseline winners, the world No 83 joined Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios and Lleyton Hewitt as only the fourth Australian to conquer the mighty Serb and further enhance his career-best season.

Victory was the 28-year-old’s fourth top-20 scalp of 2026, having never previously claimed one, and thrust Hijikata to within one win of a fresh career-high ranking inside the world’s top 60.