Shane Warne bowls to Novak Djokovic on the tennis court ahead of the Australian Open

What’s the Story?

Australian legend Shane Warne got together with 12 time Grand Slam Champion and current world no. 2 Novak Djokovic for a cricket lesson ahead of the Australian Open. The incident took place during the event “A Night with Novak ” which was held at the Margaret Court Arena on Wednesday night.

In case you didn’t know...

“A Night with Novak” was a free tennis and entertainment spectacular on the eve of the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open which will be held in Melbourne from 16^th January to 30^th January. The event raised funds for the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which supports quality preschool education for children.

The heart of the matter

Melbourne Renegades captain and Australian cricket team star, Aaron Finch was invited onto the court along with Melbourne Stars captain Meg Lanning to join Warne and Djokovic for the event.

The event began with Djokovic facing six deliveries off Warne’s bowling. After missing the first delivery, Djokovic jokingly requested Warne to bowl quicker. The Australian legend obliged and Djokovic was able to hit the ball into the stand with ease, after receiving some advice from Finch.

As the event progressed, Djokovic was given bowling lessons from Warne and was asked to hit a group of stumps which were placed a few metres away from him. The entire event was light-hearted as Warne and Djokovic kept interacting with the crowd.

What’s next?

The Australian Open is set to begin from 16^th January in Melbourne and Djokovic will be looking to defend his title. He will face stiff competition from the newly crowned, and newly knighted Andy Murray, whom he recently defeated in the finals of the ATP 250 tournament held in Doha.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be making a comeback after a long lay-off due to their respective injuries and it will be extremely interesting to see how they fare on the court.

Sportskeeda’s take

As usual, Djokovic did not fail to entertain the crowd and even garnered a lot of respect for his foundation which will support a lot of children in the future.

As far as his chances at the Australian Open are concerned, Djokovic will not be starting as the favourite at the Australian Open this year despite winning the title 6 times since 2008.