The world number one, who issued an apology after shouting in a ball boy's face during a furious row with an umpire when he beat Andy Murray in the 2015 Miami Open final, invited the youngster to replace Troicki in a stunt lauded as a "priceless moment" on social media by his Adria Tour tournament.

His cherubic opponent won the first point with a dinked winner at the net but lost his final two points, narrowly failing to capitalize on Djokovic providing serves weaker than the one that once saw him offer an apologetic hug to a ball girl he hit with one of his usual ferocious opening gambits.

Djokovic then grinned as he strolled to the other side of the court to embrace the youngster, holding his head to his chest before ushering him off court in front of a packed crowd in his homeland.