Novak Djokovic has been entertaining the Australian crowd before the start of the Australian Open. The Serbian superstar participated in various sports like basketball, gymnastics and cricket at the exhibition match before the tournament. Novak Djokovic was joined by many famous sportspersons such as Steven Smith and NBA’s Alan Williams.
Novak Djokovic tried his hand at cricket, a British Commonwealth-dominated sport and batted while another guest, Jackson Warne had the privilege to have a bowl at him. Warne bowled to Novak Djokovic, who tried batting at the Rod Laver Arena. The Australian youngster’s ball was too good and Novak Djokovic completely missed it, which is equivalent to a strike in baseball. However, the Serbian switched his bat with a racquet for the next bowl and slammed the ball into the crowd.
Is it too late to add him to the test squad?! From the sounds of it the selectors are open to trying things out…@DjokerNole • #AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/VAJq2KFShr
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 11, 2024
Now, it is interesting to note that Jackson Warne is a reality TV star as well as the son of a legendary Australian sportsperson named Shane Warne. At one point in his cricketing career, Shane Warne endorsed Nike and got to meet the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods for promotional and endorsement purposes, making the Australian the first perhaps to take the British sport to a global level
Novak Djokovic shared the stage with Shane Warne’s son for the first time after having spent time with Shane Warne too in the past. The duo were seen together at the ‘A night with Novak’ event in Melbourne in 2017. Shane Warne was seen giving Novak Djokovic some bowling tips and the duo had a great time. However, Shane Warne unfortunately passed away in 2022 at the age of 52.
In fact, Shane Warne was also the first cricketer to bring cricket to the USA in the mid-2010s by playing a 3-match series at the Yankees Stadium in New York City.
Fans dig out an old Shane Warne tweet after Novak Djokovic participates in Australian Open exhibition
Ironically, Shane Warne was one huge critic of Novak Djokovic in 2022 and fans recently dug out a tweet from the late Australian discussing the World No.1’s controversial deportation before that year’s Australian Open tournament. In the tweet, Shane Warne agreed that Djokovic was a great player but said that he was right to be deported.
Djokovic paid tribute to this man, gifted his son a racket, promoted his foundation after this. Sometimes I wish I had Djokovic’s forgiving ability. https://t.co/jmxl25iSkw
— Shabari Kailash (@shabarikailash) January 12, 2024
Now, fans are praising Novak Djokovic’s positive attitude regarding the whole matter. The Serbian has seemingly let bygones be bygones as he was seen playing cricket with his son, Jackson. Now, the Serbian will look to win a record 11th Australian Open title in Melbourne.