{"id":30538,"date":"2026-07-02T02:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/30538\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T02:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:12:08","slug":"novak-djokovic-leads-applause-for-rory-mcilroy-before-making-cheeky-offer-to-golf-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/30538\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic leads applause for Rory McIlroy before making cheeky offer to golf icon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic called out Rory McIlroy with a cheeky offer for his Masters green jacket at Wimbledon on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Djokovic<\/a> eased into the third round of the Grand Slam with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas to set up a meeting with Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy was a guest at Centre Court’s royal box to watch Djokovic’s winCredit: PA<\/p>\n

And the Serbian picked out the Northern Irishman, who was in the royal box sporting his green Masters jacket<\/a> as Djokovic suggested a game of tennis in a winner-takes-all clash.<\/p>\n

In a fresh white number with green piping to match the strict Wimbledon<\/a> dress code, Djokvoic began: “I feel great. I\u2019ve said this so many times before but I try not to take this moment for granted, playing on Centre Court of the childhood dream tournament.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve always been saying that, it stayed like that. I feel very privileged to be walking out on the court at age 30 plus.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a cliche and I believe it\u2019s actually true, age is just a number and a few people that know something about that are right in the royal box.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON TALKSPORT<\/p>\n

“Rory, Justin [Thomas], obviously Luke [Donald], it\u2019s nice to see you guys. Congrats Team Europe on the Ryder Cup<\/a>, I watched you guys.”<\/p>\n

Djokovic’s cheeky offer<\/p>\n

It was then that Djokovic laid down the gauntlet to McIlroy.<\/p>\n

“Rory, what a beautiful jacket. Is that a Masters jacket? It must be. Round of applause for Rory for the Masters, please,” he continued.<\/p>\n

“I want that jacket. I\u2019ll play you. This jacket for that jacket, we\u2019ll play tennis! No golf.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy won his second Masters jacket in April but he has a fight on his hands to keep hold of the coveted prizeCredit: Getty\"Novak<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Djokovic boasts 24 tennis Grand Slams to his nameCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“I want to thank them obviously for being present.<\/p>\n

“I know they arrived early and stayed all day so thank you guys. It really means a lot seeing you here.”<\/p>\n

The famous green Masters jacket is one of the most covered prizes in golf, and McIlroy now has two having won in Augusta back in April<\/a>, and in 2025.<\/p>\n

Djokovic, meanwhile, is hoping to land a 25th career Grand Slam at Wimbledon this year.<\/p>\n

However, he has fierce competition form Jannik Sinner<\/a>, who remains the outright favourite to successfully defend his men’s singles crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic called out Rory McIlroy with a cheeky offer for his Masters green jacket at Wimbledon on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2493,44,686,12227,399,12258,6886],"class_list":["post-30538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-augusta","tag-golf","tag-masters","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-stefanos-tsitsipas","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}