'It was gratitude': Novak Djokovic reveals why he gave his French Open racket to a boy

Novak Djokovic on Sunday made history after he sealed the French Open with another emphatic win trumping over young Stefanos Tsitsipas at Court Philipe-Chatrier. Just moments after his win, a video of him handing over his racket to a young kid in the stands began doing the rounds. 

In the video, the 34-year-old tennis star makes a kid's day by giving him his French Open winning racket. However, it was the kid's reaction which elevated the moment to another level. Upon receiving the racket from Novak Djokovic himself, the young fan displays a euphoric reaction, unable to believe what had just happened. The French Open's official Twitter handle shared a still from the unmissable moment capturing the young kid's reaction upon receiving Djokovic's racket. 

In a post-match press conference, Djokovic opened up on why he chose to hand over the racket to the young boy. The tennis star revealed that the kid had been a constant support to him throughout the match and had encouraged him when he was down.

"I don't know the boy but he was in my ear the entire time. Especially when I was down, he was encouraging me. He was actually giving me tactics as well. He was like hold your serve, go the backhand, he was coaching me. So I found that very cute and very nice and so I felt like giving the racket to the best person which was him. So it was my gratitude for him," Djokovic said.

Novak Djokovic wins French Open final

After a rocky start and dropping the first two sets, Novak Djokovic turned the tide to his favor as he sealed his 19th Grand Slam title beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open final on Sunday. With this, he becomes the first male player in the Open era to win each of the four Grand Slam tournaments at least twice in his career. His second Roland Garros trophy now puts him just one major championship away from tying the men’s record of 20 which is shared by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.