Professional Photographer Reveals Soccer Legend Diego Maradona ‘Nearly Cried’ After Meeting Roger Federer

The whole world is still mourning soccer legend Diego Maradona’s demise. The sports fraternity has come together to salute one of the greatest ever soccer players in the world. Many in the tennis world have sent their regards to his friends and family. Maradona was an avid tennis fan, and he admired Roger Federer a lot. In fact, his first meeting with the Swiss master was an extremely emotional event.

Describing the Maradona and Federer meetup is UAE based sports photographer, Jorge Ferrari.

Maradona met Federer during the 2013 Dubai Tennis Championships. “He came to watch Roger Federer. At the end of the match, Maradona wanted to meet Federer,” Ferrari recalled.

With the stature that Maradona holds, the Argentine displayed a pure fanboy behavior. Displaying his usual larger-than-life attitude, Maradona loved watching Federer. Ferrari revealed certain details about the moment before which Maradona met Federer.

“So we went with him through the Dubai stadium tunnel which has all the pictures of the tournament champions and he kept stopping and kissing the Federer pictures.”

Further, Ferrari described Maradona’s raw emotions when he met Federer. Ferrari said: “When Federer eventually arrived there after the end of his match, Maradona was nearly crying. He hugged and kissed him”. 

Diego Maradona’s fanboy moment with Roger Federer

Excited, thrilled and emotional are the best adjectives that describe Maradona’s behavior on meeting Federer. And it is probably because of this attitude that people love him around the world.

“Maradona was really in awe of Federer. It was not like people like us meeting Federer, you know. It was Maradona meeting Federer. But he was super excited like he was some little kid meeting his idol.”

Many players have written about their first meetings with Diego Maradona. Recently, former World No.1 Andy Murray also posted about his experience on meeting the great man.

A peculiar thing that he remembers is Maradona’s larger-than-life attitude and his energetic vibe. Further, Rafa Nadal, Kim Clijsters and Juan Martin del Potro have tweeted emotional anecdotes about Maradona.

Read More: Andrey Rublev Lauds Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem for Admitting Their Shortcomings After Defeat