Novak Djokovic explains unique reason why his daughter was more excited to meet Neymar over Lionel Messi

Novak Djokovic has shared the unique reason his five-year-old daughter was more excited to meet Neymar than Lionel Messi.

Djokovic is currently in Paris for the French Open, but decided to take some time off to watch Paris Saint-Germain play Clermont in their final game of the season.

The world No 3 took both of his children to the Parc des Princes on Saturday evening where they were lucky enough to meet both Messi and Neymar. However, his daughter Tara was far more interested in the Brazilian player.

Djokovic admitted he didn’t want to bother the two players before the match, which ended in a 3-2 defeat, but both stars came over themselves. “It was my first time meeting them in person – they are great champions,” he said (quotes via Tennis Majors).

“It was a pleasure and an honour to meet them, especially Messi, a player who left an extraordinary mark in the history of football.”

Explaining why he hadn't planned to meet the players, Djokovic explained: “They did win the title already, but the expectations are always huge from stars like them.

“That’s why I didn’t want to disturb them and to enter their space while they were preparing, but they saw me on their way to the locker room [before the game] and they came to say hi."

While Djokovic was in awe of Messi, his daughter Tara was desperate to meet teammate Neymar, but for an entirely different reason which had more to do with dancing than football.

“Neymar signed Tara’s jersey, but it’s an interesting story,” Djokovic continued.

“She doesn’t follow sports much, but she has a school friend who is half Brazilian-half Serbian – that girl dances all the time to this song about Neymar. That’s why she wanted to meet him badly.”

On the other hand, older brother Stefan was more interested in tennis, and has been seen on the Wimbledon practice courts with Bob Bryan’s children in the past.

“Stefan wanted to be with me through the whole routine, to see how it feels – warm up, gym, practice, this board game we always play, lunch… He was there the whole time,” Djokovic revealed.

Only time will tell if he can follow in his father's footsteps and build on Djokovic's 22 grand slams.

Topics: Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Paris Saint-Germain, Tennis, Football

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno