“I wish I were like him”, said Novak Djokovic. And he wasn’t talking about goals or Ballon d’Ors.
At 39, the Serbian explained why he would like to have Lionel Messi’s life on a soccer field: in soccer, it’s 90 minutes, there are teammates who help you, and there are substitutions.
In tennis, no. “It’s merciless, brutal. If you have a bad day, you’re out”, he confessed, with no one to ask for a substitution or a helping hand amid the disaster.
The comparison is no coincidence: last year, Djokovic spent a quiet afternoon with Messi and his family in Miami, during the tournament. That was where an admiration was born that the Serbian repeats whenever he can: to him, Leo is simply a “phenomenon”.