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Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli has issued a bold statement regarding India-Pakistan matches while comparing cricket and tennis on the sidelines of Wimbledon 2025.
Virat was present during the Round 16 match between tennis star Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur.
While speaking on the sidelines of the match, Virat Kohli compared the experience of tennis games to the high-stakes encounter between India and Pakistan.
“The experience can be similar but the intimidation factor and the factor, I would say, could only be replicated for us in very peak kind of World Cup games, like an India-Pakistan World Cup game or the semi-final or a final where your legs are shivering because of sheer pressure,” he said.
“These guys must be facing that from the quarter-final onwards till the final, which I think is a lot of pressure onwards,” he observed.
The 36-year-old emphasized tennis center court as a more pressure place than a cricket ground.
“It’s a lot of pressure (cricket) because there are so many people in the stadium. But I’d say that it’s not as intimidating as the Centre Court because of the distance people are sitting from you.
When we are batting on the pitch, the fans are too far away, so you can get lost in your space and do your own thing. You don’t hear comments, the cheers or the boos straight in your ears, it’s only when you are fielding on the boundary but you don’t have the pressure of succeeding or failing with your individual skill,” Virat Kohli stated.
The right-handed batter who recently announced his retirement from the longest format of the game hailed tennis players for extreme mental toughness.
“But here, everything’s on the line and can change with a point in tennis. The pressure these guys must be feeling… playing on the Centre Court must be tremendous. I have lot of respect for tennis players for that reason — maintaining composure, fitness, and mental strength, it’s truly remarkable,” he concluded.
