Mar 29, 2025 12:45 PM IST
Lionel Messi was in attendance in the stadium as Novak Djokovic reached the final of the Miami Open, the legends later sharing a picture.
It was a crossover of epic proportions at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, as one of the ‘GOATs’ of football attended the match of one of the ‘GOATs’ of tennis. Lionel Messi was pictured in the crowd of the Miami Open during Novak Djokovic’s thumping 6-2 6-3 win in his semifinal victory over Grigor Dimitrov. Later, the pair of legendary modern-day athletes were pictured together, as Djokovic signed a shirt for the Argentinian great.
Messi now famously plies his trade for Inter Miami CF in the American MLS, and in doing so has become one of the biggest celebrities in the city. While many athletes across sports have attended Miami matches while in town for the opportunity to watch Messi play, it was Messi’s turn to return the favour at the iconic Hard Rock Stadium.
Djokovic posted a photo of him with Messi to his Instagram account, where he gave a signed shirt to the footballer with a message that read “For your family” in Spanish. Messi also gave Djokovic an Inter Miami home jersey. Djokovic captioned the post: “An honour to meet the greatness (Messi) and his whole family. Gracias Leo.”
Djokovic continues to make history, aims at century
Messi was in attendance as Djokovic took only 71 minutes to dismantle Bulgarian Dimitrov, and make a record-extending 60th Masters 1000 final. Djokovic also tied with Roger Federer as having made a tour level final in 20 consecutive seasons, a credit to his longevity at 37-years-old.
A win in the final would also make the Serb only the third man to win 100 titles on the ATP tour, behind Federer and Jimmy Connors, but will have the challenge of 19-year-old Czech up-and-comer Jakub Mensik in the final.
Mensik, set for the biggest match of his young career so far, also shared a picture alongside Messi from the player locker room. Speaking on court after his win over Taylor Fritz, he joked: “I shook his hand. I was kind of chilling with him a bit so I didn’t wash my hand before stepping on court. That was the key for today.”
Meanwhile, Messi has enjoyed a fast start on the return of the MLS and the CONCACAF Champions Cup, scoring 4 and assisting two in six games. However, he was struck by an injury in mid-March, keeping him out for a month and forcing him to sit out of Argentina’s squad for this international break. Argentina nonetheless managed to trounce arch-rivals Brazil 4-1 in the World Cup qualifiers, having sealed their participation in the 2026 tournament.
