Picture Credit: Twitter
On the sidelines of Monte-Carlo Masters in Monaco, the Mercedes F1 driver George Russell and Novak Djokovic, the no. 1 tennis player in the world, were having a candid chat with each other about their respective sports. Both superstars were seen slamming the F1 calendar which has a stretch of races hosted back and forth between continents rather than a regional schedule.
The ATP Tour posted the clip of the brief interaction between F1’s British star George Russell and the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic on their Twitter handle with a caption, “When in Monaco. @DjokerNole and @GeorgeRussell63 meet after Djokovic’s win.” It happened after the tough round of 32 victory for the Serbian against Ivan Gakhov by 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on April 11, Tuesday.
When Djokovic asked Russell about the latest assignment in his F1 schedule after their tennis talk, he responded, “We’ve got Azerbaijan next. We’ve just come back from Melbourne.” Upon hearing that, Djokovic put up a question to Russell about how long it takes for him to recover from all that travel. “Melbourne's a killer,” the Briton replied.
“I mean, it's probably taken a week to come back. We were meant to go to China next week so we've actually got a couple of weeks off. Then Azerbaijan and then the season really kicks off. Miami then Monte Carlo,” the Mercedes driver said.
The Serb got surprised by George Russell’s comments and mentioned, “They (FIA) don’t really keep you on the continents right, kind of moving around the world,” to which Russell said “No, no, no,” in agreement and added, “There’s a few conversations about this (F1 calendar), because we’re left, right, and centre.”
While Novak Djokovic made an exit from the ongoing Monte-Carlo Masters after a 6-4, 5-7, 4-6 defeat against L Musetti, George Russell will head to Azerbaijan for the next race, scheduled to take place on April 30 (Sunday).
