Sachin Tendulkar is being missed in far away West Indies. But that has only delighted fans at tennis’ premier Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, with the rare sighting of Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer in a tete- a-tete with each other.

The Indian batting maestro is currently on a BCCI approved break from cricket. So, even as the Indian cricket team plans to take on the West Indies in the second Test beginning Tuesday, Tendulkar chose to share the time he allotted for his family with the tennis great from Switzerland. Naturally the meeting of two legends is always something that brings out the best in fans and in the two legends who had only compliments for one another.

Sachin Tendulkar was once again in attendance at Wimbledon, seated in the Wimbledon Royal Box with his wife, Anjali Tendulkar, watching Federer steadily decimate Davdi Nalbandian in the third round to make it to the second week of Wimbledon. Sachin Tendulkar was also seen chatting up Indian tennis’ rising star, Somdev Devvarman, in the course of the day.

That the meeting was not only a matter of excitement for fans with taste for both, cricket and tennis, but also, for Sachin Tendulkar, who has been a Roger Federer fan for quite some time was in the manner in which he tweeted about his meeting with the tennis ace:

Spent an hour with Roger Federer chatting on the balcony of Wimbledon Royal box.

What a humble guy!

And by the way he knows a lot about cricket!!

Sachin Tendulkar has been known to share his appreciation for champions in other fields, even sharing space with Michael Schumacher, the seven time Formula One champion, as part of a FIAT event where the latter presented Tendulkar with the Modena 360 Ferrari, the car that was recently in the news after Tendulkar sold it to a businessman from Surat.

Tendulkar is an unparalleled cricketer from the modern era and his chance encounters with fellow sports legends has always created quite the flutter. It is not often that these men who are idolized by millions actually express their adoration for another. But when Tendulkar expresses his own joy at the meeting, it is always a special moment to be captured.

What particularly fascinated Tendulkar was the fact that the Swizz tennis champion was not only aware of the sport of cricket but also, of Sachin Tendulkar, only making the meeting more of a mutual admiration society. Tendulkar has often shown appreciation for competitors from other sports, but there is always the rare occasion, even for him, when he has the opportunity to pick the minds of those he has come to follow with some awe even if Federer is decidedly younger than Tendulkar but a tall order in terms of achievements on the tennis court. Both milestone setters in their individual sports, the coming together of such historically high achievers is humbled only by the fact that Tendulkar, someone who achieved the stature of God in cricket circles, is down to earth to acknowledge that even he is mortal when he meets with not only his admirers but also, someone he admires.

No wonder then that people would have liked to be a fly on the wall, as it were, as the two legends from their respective sports, had the opportunity to chat each other up following Federer’s win over Nalbandian, bringing the Wimbledon weekend to a close on a rather high note.