Indian Wells: Catching up with Djokovic
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INDIAN WELLS -- If tennis star Novak Djokovic, last year’s Australian Open champion, wasn’t going to go to a Lakers game like he did last year ... the next-best option to see him this week meant driving out to the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Friday afternoon.
You can always count on an amusing quote and/or clever observation from the entertaining Serb. Colleague Bonnie DeSimone of ESPN.com asked him about his attachment to the falcon, the motif for his Adidas clothing line.
‘It’s one of my favorite animals, and I think it describes in some ways my personality, as well,’ he said. ‘I play a pretty aggressive game, and I’m very emotional, and I’m kind of connected to that bird. My grandfather used to call me always when I was younger, ‘Falcon, falcon.’ Doesn’t make any sense in English but in our language it does.’
After all, there is a hunting theme going on in men’s tennis. Everyone is pursuing the big game, also known as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
‘Well, you’re always hunting something, right, in your life? It’s a process,’ Djokovic said.
Considering that Federer grew up in Switzerland, the headline for the next Djokovic-Federer confrontation could easily be: The Falcon and the Snowman.
-Lisa Dillman
