The 2025 Miami Open was graced by football royalty on Friday when Novak Djokovic was taking on Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinal clash. It was none other than Inter Miami's Lionel Messi, who was present at the courtside to witness the Serbian legend.
Lionel Messi cheers for Novak Djokovic at 2025 Miami Open
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was present during the semifinal clash between Djokovic and Dimitrov as the Serbian defeated the latter in straight sets by (6-2 and 6-3). With this victory, he secured his spot in the Miami Open finals.
Messi, who has won the World Cup with Argentina and has four UEFA Champions League titles to his name with Barcelona, captains Major League Soccer (MLS) team Inter Miami. On Friday, he swapped the pitch for the stands as he watched Djokovic display his talents at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Amazing to have him, Djokovic said on Messi. It is a great honour to play, probably for the first time, in front of him live. I am really grateful he was here with his son and the family. I admired him of course as most of the world for most of his career and it is amazing he still keeps going. We are actually the same age, born in 1987, so it is nice to have him around.
For both Messi and Djokovic, age is merely a number as they are showing no signs of slowing down in their career. They still manage to perform at the highest level day in and out and continue to break records. At 35-years-old, Messi lifted the 2022 World Cup and even has record eight Ballon d'Or trophies to his name at 36.
On the other hand, Djokovic, who is 37-year-old, is the oldest ATP Masters 1000 finalist in the history of the sport and has now reached a tour-level final in every season for the past 20 consecutive years (2006 to 2025).
Not just this, he is also eyeing his 100th tour-level title as he is on 99 tour titles which he secured during last year's gold medal match at the Paris Olympics. He will join the likes of Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only players to have more than 100 tour-level titles to their name.