Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister David Cameron were among those granted an audience with Roger Federer this year. On Tuesday, the Swiss was on cloud nine when he got a chance to shake the ‘Hand of God’.
Argentine soccer great Maradona, who infamously punched in the first goal against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals and then said it had been scored by the “Hand of God”, has become a regular fixture courtside at the ATP World Tour Finals this week.
Maradona, arguably the greatest player to kick a ball, nodded his approval throughout Federer’s 6-4 6-2 demolition of Andy Murray and afterwards the Swiss 16-times Grand Slam champion said he did not know who was more star-struck when the two sporting icons met face-to-face.
“Yeah, I did meet up. Everything went okay. Really relieved that everything was okay,” a smiling Federer, who met the Queen during this year’s Wimbledon championships, told reporters after chalking up his second successive Group B win.
“I’m a big soccer fan. It’s been a pleasure to meet him. I heard he’s a big tennis fan, a big fan of mine.
“I think he was almost more excited to meet me than I was to meet him, and I was very excited. It was a big pleasure.”
Maradona is turning out to be a bit of a mascot for the top three players this week -- who all remain undefeated in London.
He was also seen chatting to world number one Rafael Nadal in the corridors of the domed O2 Arena while third-ranked Novak Djokovic could not resist pulling his leg after the 50-year-old sat courtside for the Serbian’s first match on Monday.
“When he came in during the middle of the first set, I wondered whether I should play with my legs or my hands!” joked Djokovic who hopes to hit some balls on the practice with the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player.