From the United States to France, Serbian athletes have been ruling the sporting world for the last couple of days. On Sunday, Novak Djokovic defeated Casper Ruud to win his third Grand Slam title. A day later, Nikola Jokic guided the Nuggets to their first NBA title.
Following a stellar performance from the Serbian basketball ball, the Denver Nuggets took down the Miami Heat 94-89 in game 5 of the NBA finals. Talking about the statistics, Nikola Jokic finished the game with 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting, 16 rebounds, and four assists.
MVP!!!! GREATNESS 🏆🃏🏀 https://t.co/QQvlp5fyqY
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) June 13, 2023
Not only in the final, but the 28-year-old also acted as the lynchpin of the Nuggets throughout the season as his consistency caught massive praise. Thus, his compatriot, Novak Djokovic also came forward to applaud his brilliant performance.
As Nikola Jokic was named the MVP of the 2023 NBA Finals, the 36-year-old quickly praised his countrymen as he wrote “MVP!!!! GREATNESS”. While on Instagram, Djokovic uploaded a series of stories about the NBA Star.
Sharing a picture of his childhood alongside Nikola Jokic, the Serb wrote: “When are we going to play tennis, Jokara?”
While in another story, Djokovic wrote another interesting caption in his native language. It translated to “In this picture, the countries that are in white are those who never had a tennis player with 23 Grand Slam titles.”
Moreover, the 36-year-old also posted a picture of Jokic riding a horse with the NBA Trophy. In addition to that, he also shared an edited collage of himself and the Nuggets talisman. Thus, the fans also had something similar to say.
Bother jokers are the greatest!!!!
— bscpleb (@Bscpleb_eth) June 13, 2023
Now Serbia has two Legends❤️👏 Sada Srbija ima dve legende ❤️👏
— Dr. G. ♥️ (@G7G7G7) June 13, 2023
Now Serbia has two Legends❤️👏 Sada Srbija ima dve legende ❤️👏
— Dr. G. ♥️ (@G7G7G7) June 13, 2023
God has fantastic sense of humor…
Two Jokers 🃏 from 🇷🇸…
Both have rose tennis rackets…@DjokerNole but first you come out for a pickup game, one on one… 🤣
Translation of Novak’s post”
“When we are going for a tennis Joker?”… 🃏🐐🎾🏀🏆❤️🇷🇸
LEGENDS https://t.co/SixxMr8TeZ pic.twitter.com/orLt5tPr7n— Aleksandar Klipić S~1/r2 ⬅️➡️®️GorillaPool.io 🦍🍌 (@DeepDish71) June 13, 2023
There’s 7.8 billion people on this planet, and two of the top five most popular sports in the world are now unequivocally dominated by a country of 6.8 MILLION:
🇷🇸🎾 Novak Djokovic, all-time leader in men’s Grand Slam titles
🇷🇸🏀 Nikola Jokic, 2023 NBA champion and Finals MVP pic.twitter.com/8A8LF5ytFo
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) June 13, 2023
Joker back to back days of greatness, Joker’s wild 👊💪😎👍 https://t.co/GWtEV6VPHb
— Brad Gilbert (@bgtennisnation) June 13, 2023
Nikola Jokic thinks Novak Djokovic is one of the best to play tennis
Since the last few weeks, Nikola Jokic and Novak Djokovic have been in constant touch. The two Serbian athletes have been cheering each other on in their respective sporting journeys too.
Before Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Nuggets talisman, Jokic heaped praise on Djokovic following his record-breaking victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud in the Roland Garros final on Sunday. The NBA star called the 36-year-old one of the best players to ever play the sport.
“Yeah, he won for the 23rd time… that’s enough! I’m joking! There are no words to describe that man, everyone’s already said everything. He’s the master of his craft and probably one of the best to ever play that sport,” Jokic said.
The two share a hilarious friendship as Djokovic said that he had to find Jokic’s number in order to congratulate him during the playoffs. Consequently, after the final triumph at the post-match press conference, the NBA star also looked at his phone to find the 36-year-old’s message.