Emma Raducanu's conqueror had extra help from Novak Djokovic before Wimbledon clash

Aryna Sabalenka has revealed that she picked Novak Djokovic's brain to help her on her quest to win a maiden Wimbledon title. The world No. 1 came back from a break down in both sets to beat Emma Raducanu in a thrilling third-round match on Friday night - and she confirmed that her stellar returning was down to 24-time Major champion Djokovic.

Although she broke British hearts when she sent Raducanu packing, top seed Sabalenka is now feeling the love from the Wimbledon crowd. And she's planning to speak to Djokovic again to help her go all the way.

Djokovic and Sabalenka have spent plenty of time together at Wimbledon this past week. The multi-Grand Slam champions practised together at Aorangi Park before the Serb crashed Sabalenka's pre-tournament press conference.

And Sabalenka has now credited the 38-year-old for helping her with various aspects of the game.

Asked to name players with a good tennis IQ, the world No. 1 replied: "I think not like someone I played against, but definitely talking a lot to Novak, like, he definitely has a lot of knowledge of the game.

"It's really helped me a lot several times. I mean, basically whenever I talk to him, it's really helping me.

"It's a lot of things. One of the conversation went to like managing energy. Another one about the mental part of the game.

"Then we had another conversation about, like, mentally approaching those big finals. So yeah, I think mostly we're talking about mental part of the game.

"I mean, also one time he really helped me with the return. Now he's always like making fun of me copying his return. I'm like, 'Man, it's working. I'm copying the best'. Actually maybe I have to talk to him a bit more about tennis stuff."

Sabalenka's return proved crucial when she came back from a break down in both sets against Raducanu on Friday night, going on to win 7-6(6) 6-4. So it's no surprise the three-time Major winner wants to get more advice before her quarter-final clash with Laura Siegemund.

The former semi-finalist here can at least count on the support of the crowd. After beating Raducanu in round three, she confessed: "Honestly, every time you were cheering her up, I was trying to tell myself just pretend they're cheering for you."

There was no need to pretend on Sunday, however, as the fans rallied behind Sabalenka as she beat 24th seed and former doubles partner Elise Mertens 6-4 7-6(4).

"Yeah, I mean, today I definitely felt all the support. It was so amazing playing and feeling the support. I didn't have to pretend that they were cheering for me because they were really cheering for me," she smiled.

"I mean, what can be better than that? I really enjoyed that. I really hope that it can stay the same all the way, and they are going to help me energy-wise to stay strong and to face all of the challenges."