Iconic tennis player Novak Djokovic was the latest to congratulate Virat Kohli on a glittering Test career after the Indian stalwart announced his retirement from the longest format of the game on Monday. “Incredible innings @viratkohli,” the Serb posted on his Instagram story with a photo of the Indian star.
What’s even more fascinating here is that the two stars have never met each other in person, but over the last few years, Kohli and Djokovic have forged a bond via text messages, both players had revealed last year.
“ and I have been texting a little bit for a few years. We never got the chance to meet in person, but it was an honour and privilege to listen to him speak nicely about me. I admire his career and his achievements. I started to play cricket. I’m not very good at it. I have a task to perfect my cricket skills before I get to India so that I don’t embarrass myself when I am there,” Djokovic had said on Sports.
Kohli then shared a funny anecdote about his first interaction with Djokovic and lifted the curtain on their bond. He revealed that it started with Kohli trying to message the 24-time Grand Slam on Instagram, and finding a text message from the Serbian tennis ace in his direct messages.
“I got in touch with Novak (Djokovic) very organically. When I saw his profile on Instagram, I pressed the message button, I thought I would just message him. Then I saw his message already on my DM (Direct Message). I had never opened it. It was the first time I had opened my own messages. And he’s messaged me himself. So first I thought let me just check, maybe it’s a fake account. Then I checked again, it was legitimate. Then we got talking. We have been exchanging messages every now and then. I congratulated him for all his amazing achievements,” Kohli had said in an interaction with Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) social media team.
“When I got 50th ODI Century recently, Novak Djokovic put out a story (on Instagram), and sent me a nice message as well so there is mutual admiration and respect – really nice to connect with global athletes who are excelling at a high level. I have a lot of respect for him and his journey… his passion for fitness is something I dearly follow myself. So there was a lot to connect on,” Kohli had added.
