London, Nov. 23: Novak Djokovic hopes the support of Argentina legend Diego Maradona can inspire him to victory at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Maradona is a big tennis fan and was cheering on Djokovic from courtside at London’s O2 Arena on Monday as the Serbian third seed started his bid to win the prestigious end-of-year event with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych.
Djokovic revealed Maradona will be backing him at the tournament all week after the pair finally met in London following a long-distance exchanges of gifts over the past three years. He sent the former Barcelona and Napoli forward a racquet and shirt to show his admiration and was delighted when Maradona responded with a gift of a signed shirt.
“He’s an image that is recognized all over the world. Just to have him as a support is an incredible honour and pleasure,” Djokovic said. “He’s one of the biggest icons of the sport ever.”
“One of the Argentinian journalists told me he likes watching me play so I sent him a shirt and racquet. He got me a jersey in return with a signature. It’s at home in a very special place. That’s kind of the connection that we had in the past couple years. But this is the first time we met in person,” he revealed.
“It makes you proud of yourself that such important people in life come to watch you and be there for hours and hours watching your match. So this is definitely a big thing,” Djokovic added.
Although Maradona speaks little English, Djokovic was able to talk to him in Italian and has arranged for the 50-year-old to join him for a light-heartened training session later this week.