Footage has been shared of the sweet moment Novak Djokovic was reunited with the Wimbledon ball girl he pranked on Centre Court last week.
During his second-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, he asked the ball girl to cut something off his sleeve with scissors during a changeover before pretending she’d sliced him open, much to the amusement of the crowd.
The youngster’s reaction was priceless, immediately placing her hand on her chest in shock after believing she had accidentally hurt the Serbian star.
And now the pair of them have been reunited at Wimbledon ahead of Djokovic’s quarter-final clash with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Djokovic said: ‘Sorry about the scare the other day, it was the Serbian sense of humour.’
She replied: ‘Don’t be sorry at all, I found it very funny. I thought it was good, you made me laugh, I thought it was funny!’
Novak Djokovic was reunited with the ball girl he pranked in the first week of Wimbledon
The 24-time Grand Slam champion then pulled out a couple of caps of his from the racket bag for her to choose from, which he then signed.
She then joked: ‘I’ve been thinking all day about how I can scare you back but that it would be really embarrassing if I don’t execute it well so I’ve decided not to.’
They then posed for a photo together outside the practice courts – one that will no doubt take pride of place at the ball girl’s home.
Djokovic has not always been well received at Wimbledon by the fans and frequently played the pantomime villain but the fans appeared to have softened to him now.
His sense of humour in pranking the ball girl and kind words for Rory McIlroy, who was watching on last week, helped endear him further.
Fans on social media were left in hysterics by the funny moment.
‘She looked like she was about to apologise for ending his Wimbledon,’ one person wrote on X.
‘Lol, the girl must have had a panic attack at first,’ another wrote.
‘His sense of humour is top notch,’ a third added.
Djokovic senses a brilliant opportunity to win his 25th Grand Slam this week, particularly with Carlos Alcaraz out of the picture due to injury.
But he faces a tough challenge against No 3 seed Aliassime, with the pair set to lock horns on Tuesday afternoon.
