Novak Djokovic attracts a lot of flak for his unruly interactions with the crowd during his matches. He, however, has time and again proved himself to be a kind-hearted gentleman, a personality that goes against his image. As he is scheduled to play against Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round of the French Open 2024, an old story of how he first met the 25-year-old Argentinian is winning hearts online.
X user Danny shared an interesting tidbit about the time when Djokovic met Cerundolo for the first time. It was in February 2021, and Cerundolo had made it to the finals of the Buenos Aires tournament.
Djokovic arrived before the match and introduced himself. He asked the Argentine about his brother, congratulated him for his achievements and wished him luck for the match. As a legend of the sport, he couldn’t have been kinder and nicer to Cerundolo.
Danny tweeted the following –
“Fun fact: Francisco Cerundolo’s tennis idol is Novak Djokovic. They will play tomorrow for the first time. Here’s an amazing story he shared about Novak Djokovic:
“Novak came to me to say hello to me. I was ranked 110 and he introduced himself and congratulated me for everything I had won. He even asked me about my brother. And I said to myself, “Wow, he’s #1 in the world and he knows everything.”
Cerundolo couldn’t believe that the then 18-time Grand Slam winner was treating him – a 110th ranked player then, as an equal. Not only that, Cerundolo was astonished by the fact that Djokovic did some research and seemed to know a lot about him. He spoke about it extensively in an interview with Tennis USA.
It was a testament to Novak Djokovic’s down-to-earth nature. Several younger tennis players have lauded the Serb for the same reason in the past such as Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Hamad Medjedovic.
Novak Djokovic has shown that he has a heart of gold on many occasions. Whether it was affectionately putting his jacket around a female reporter during a Monte Carlo Open 2024 interview, or spending an ample amount of time with his fans after his third round match.
Novak Djokovic Dispels Myth Behind His Rude Image
Novak Djokovic has been relatively calmer off late despite all the controversies that have surrounded him in recent times. After his win against Lorenzo Musetti, Djokovic addressed the Paris crowd in French very politely and sweetly.
He gave his t-shirts and other items from his kit to fans in the crowd, including two teenage boys. Those young boys were joyous beyond belief. They also got to speak to him. To top it all, Djokovic didn’t even complain much about the match getting over by 3:07 am.
With these kinds of gestures of late, Novak Djokovic has certainly come a long way from when he copped a lot of hatred for his anti-vaccination stance and his attitude towards crowds. Therefore, he could be the new Grand Slam favorite when it comes to popularity among fans. This could be a new chapter in his life.
Coming back to the upcoming Cerundolo clash, Novak Djokovic is aiming to win the 370th Grand Slam match of his career. This will take him ahead of Roger Federer’s tally of 369, which is the highest so far for any men’s singles player in tennis history. It is set to be a record which may never be broken in the future.
Novak Djokovic and his fans could have more to celebrate as he remains the MVP of tennis with Roger Federer having retired and Rafael Nadal being far from his best at the moment.
