Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was awestruck seeing tennis great Novak Djokovic and Australian batter Steve Smith involved in a light-hearted moment on the court before the start of the Australian Open, which got underway in Melbourne on Sunday.
The 34-year-old Smith visited Melbourne Park where he played tennis with Djokovic, who also had fun with the cricket bat.
Seeing the camaraderie between the two, Tendulkar expressed his joy on X. “Beautiful to see two accomplished sportsmen having a moment. The score is ‘love-all’,” he wrote.
The Indian’s message didn’t elude the eyes of Djokovic, who replied with an emoticon of “folded hands”, expressing gratitude.
Tennis’ world No. 1 also received good wishes from Indian star batter Virat Kohli after he began his Australian Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 win over Croatia’s Dino Prizmic on Sunday.
Kohli wrote: “I would like to wish you all the very best for the Australian Open. I know how excited and prepared you are for these big events, and I have no doubt that we’ll see the Novak Djokovic that we’ve seen over the years. I hope you have a great tournament.”
Djokovic replied on X: “Thank you for these kind words @imVkohli. Looking forward to the day we play together”.
Earlier, the former Indian skipper had revealed how the two superstar athletes have been in touch on Instagram for a few years.
“I got in touch with Novak very organically,” said Kohli on BCCI.tv. “I was looking at his profile on Instagram, and pressed the message button (to) say hello. Then I saw there was a message from him in my DMs already.
“I was like, let me just check if it’s a fake account. But I checked again and it was legitimate. And then yeah, we got to talking. I congratulated him for all his amazing achievements.”
With a potential 25th Grand Slam title up for grabs, Djokovic, told Sony Sports Network about his admiration for India and what drives him every day towards achieving great things, even at the age of 36.
“I visited India only once, around 10 or 11 years ago for a two-day exhibition event in New Delhi,” he said. “It was a brief stay, and I hope to return soon to explore the country’s rich history, culture and spirituality.”
Indo-Asian News Service
