‘Virat Kohli and I have been texting for a few years’: Novak Djokovic opens up on bond with Indian cricketer

“Virat Kohli 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,” he recently revealed on Sony 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.

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲

Virat Kohli 🤝 Novak Djokovic

Two 🐐 🐐, one special bond 💙

Virat Kohli shares the story about his newest "text buddy" 👌👌 – By @ameyatilak#TeamIndia | @imVkohli | @DjokerNole | @AustralianOpen

𝙋.𝙎. – "Hey Novak 👋 – Good luck at AO" pic.twitter.com/PEPQnydwJB

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 14, 2024

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“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,” said Kohli in an interaction with Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) social media team on the eve of the 2nd T20I between India and Afghanistan.

“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 added.

"I have great relationship with all the names that you mentioned and Virat Kohli and I have been texting a little bit for a few Years"

Novak Djokovic on his friendship with Virat Kohli 🐐×🐐 pic.twitter.com/JmTZtHpNYu

— Gaurav (@Melbourne__82) January 13, 2024

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The cricketer added that he is looking forward to catching up with Djokovic over a cup of coffee in India. The ace cricketer also extended his best wishes to Djokovic for the first Grand Slam event of the 2023 season.

At a promotional event before the Australian Open, Djokovic tried his hand at various sports like basketball and cricket, trying his luck at batting as Australian star Steve Smith joined him to play tennis.

Commenting on Djokovic’s batting prowess, Kohli said: “I think he’s way better than swinging the cricket bat than we are at swinging the tennis racquet. I think Steve did pretty well to return his serve. When you have good hand-eye coordination, you think you can also do that. But I have seen tennis matches live, so I know how fast those serves are. But it would be nice to play tennis with Novak as well. Probably the only thing I can teach him is how to hold a cricket bat.”