Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom: While these days he is known as a relentless winning machine, the epitome of wide-eyed, fierce concentration and unswerving dedication, several years ago Novak Djokovic was as renowned as a court jester as he was for his prodigious tennis ability.
His impersonations of fellow players such as Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal made him a crowd favourite and a YouTube sensation — and then he decided it was time for the clowning around to stop as he invested all his energies into becoming the best player in the world.
But the man they call “Djoker” fully illustrated why he first earned that nickname at The Boodles exhibition in Stoke Park, England, last week by unleashing his full arsenal of comic gems in what was a welcome reminder that sport can be joyful as well as a serious business.
And he found a willing recruit for his comedy double act in opponent Grigor Dimitrov, the two firing wisecrack after wisecrack at each other and the crowd in between trading a barrage of brilliant baseline blows in a highly entertaining encounter.
For instance, the jesting pair sent the females in the crowd into a frenzy when they removed their shirts, urging spectators to clap along as they did so, Djokovic twirling his top above his head theatrically.
They also made up their own rules with the umpire and swapped roles with the ball girls as they embraced the exhibition nature of the event with gusto and joyful abandon.
The hilarity of the occasion then hit fever pitch after the match, when courtside announcer Natalie Pinkham asked the pair to impersonate women’s tennis star Maria Sharapova — Dimitrov’s girlfriend and Djokovic’s favourite figure of fun.
Djokovic quipped: “I haven’t done my Maria impression for a while now, but I think Grigor is probably better at it than me now.”
After initial reluctance, and much to the crowd’s delight, Dimitrov mimicked the preening Russian beauty’s familiar statuesque strut from the courtside chair to the service line.
Djokovic then ratcheted up the laughter in the stands even further as he captured perfectly Sharapova’s pre-service posturing, involving a long, drawn-out routine of flicking her hair several times, before letting out an over the top, girly shriek as he launched a serve.
Relaxed and happy, the smiling assassin Novak Djokovic could very likely have the last laugh over his rivals at Wimbledon — in more ways than one.
To view Djokovic and Dimitrov’s Sharapova impersonations, log on to www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYokGZ8pOEw.
