During an Instagram live session, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic spoke about tennis, their life during the coronavirus pandemic, and also about their first-ever meeting.
The Russian ace spoke about how they first met in an exhibition match as youngsters. Djokovic was still an unknown face back then and Sharapova was already a star.
"You said that if you’d win, I would have to pay dinner. I was like, ‘Okay, whatever, who is this kid?’ You won and you were like, ‘We have dinner tonight. We’re going to the Japanese place!’ I was like, ‘Are you serious? You and me, going to dinner, tonight?’ So we did. We ended up going to dinner and it was so funny because you pulled out I think it was an old Kodak camera and you asked the waiter to take a photo of us and here we are," she recalled.
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Djokovic quipped, "Maria is saying the truth."
To which Sharapova responded, "I think you were fanboying."
Sharapova also revealed how admirable Djokovic's career was, as he really transformed from a struggling but talented player to the number one spot in ATP rankings.
"It’s really admirable to watch you gain this interest throughout the years because I will say, and you’ll probably admit to it, but at the beginning of your career you struggled so much with your body and the length of matches," Sharapova said. "I remember watching you on the clay and all the cramping and being like, 'Are you ever going to get your s*** together?' To see you make a transformation, what I loved about this sport our game and our results really did the talking for us." she stated.
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Speaking about the pandemic, Djokovic said, "When you’re an athlete and used to these things, it’s such an integral part of your day, that it’s almost impossible to think about days when you’re not doing something, even if it’s stretching, yoga, whatever it is. I’ve been trying to do that. But there have been some days where I just haven’t done much physical activity at all. And that’s fine."
"At the end of the day, we have to slow down and I think this whole thing that is happening, on a brighter side, allowed us to have time to reflect on ourselves and our lives, really understand how we want to move forward because we don’t know what’s going to happen, what are the ramifications of coronavirus on the tennis world."
