Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after winning his men's singles tennis match against Dominic Thiem of Austria at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai October 8, 2014. REUTERS/Aly Song
Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after winning his men's singles tennis match against Dominic Thiem of Austria at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai October 8, 2014. Reuters

At 7 ft 6 in tall, retired Chinese professional basketball player Yao Ming can really make anyone look so tiny. As such, when tennis greats Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer met with Yao and posed for a souvenir in China, they completely looked diminutive individuals.

Both Djokovic and Federer are taking part in the 2014 Shanghai Rolex Masters in China. The famous basketball player who once played for the Houston Rockets came to see the match between Djokovic and Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round match of the men's singles of the said tennis tournament on Oct. 8. Djokovic defeated Thiem in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

Standing at 6 ft 2 in, Djokovic looked so little beside Yao. He shared a picture of him with Yao on Twitter. "I got to meet Yao Ming today, very big guy," Djokovic tweeted. Yao received an autographed shirt from the top-ranked Serbian athlete.

Federer has also posed for a picture with one of the world's tallest man. Federer, who stands at 6 ft 1 in, also looked small standing next to Yao. Federer took his delight of meeting the former Shanghai-born basketball player to Twitter. "Hard not to look up to the great @YaoMing, amazing athlete and national here," Federer captioned the photo.

Federer has also advanced in the third round of the Shanghai Masters after beating Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 7-5, 3-6, 7(9)-6(7). Federer will meet Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.

Yao has attracted a lot of attention because of his unusual height. Viral Nova, a website that offers interesting stories on the Internet, has compiled pictures of Yao and how he has made people that are actually tall looked like "tiny ants."

Yao's parents were former professional basketball players. He was the only child. At nine years old, Yao started playing basketball. By the time Yao was an adolescent, he was already playing for the Shanghai Sharks, a junior basketball team of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Yao was only thirteen years old when the Sharks signed him. He played for the Sharks from 1997 until 2002.

Following his stint with the Chinese basketball team, he decided to enter the 2002 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft. He was selected by the Houston Rockets. Yao played for the Rockets until his retirement in 2011.

Yao is married to Ye Li, who is also a professional basketball player in China. They have one daughter named Yao Qinlei born in May 2010.