Tennis Canada vice president recalls the time when Novak Djokovic made one of the strangest requests he ever received
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Eugene Lapierre (L) and Novak Djokovic
Former Rogers Cup tournament director and now Tennis Canada vice president Eugene Lapierre recently recalled how Serb superstar tennis player Novak Djokovic was always finding ways to impress the crowds at the event.
However, on one such occasion, Lapierre said he was himself left surprised when Djokovic asked for a Segway to get a tour of the tennis complex, to which the Serb’s agent cautioned ‘never’.
“At one point he (Djokovic) asked me if we could get him a Segway, so he could get around the site. We couldn’t find any, and anyway, his agent said, ‘Never,’” Lapierre revealed in an interview.
“The nickname ‘Djoker’ which Serbian Novak Djokovic inherited very early in his career suits him perfectly,” added Lapierre.
“He always wants to please the public in different ways. He dances with the ball hunters on the field. He is very nice to everyone. He is a teaser, who always wants to make people laugh.”
Novak Djokovic goes past Rafael Nadal to claim highest win percentage in tennis history
With his win in the Astana Open final, Djokovic has fathomed another milestone and has overtaken his arch-nemesis, Rafael Nadal in an elite list. Djokovic registered his 1022nd match win on the tour against his 205 losses which has now taken his Win-Loss % to 83.293. With 1066 wins and 214 losses, Nadal’s Win-Loss % is 83.281 and hence, Djokovic has now become the player with the highest win percentage in tennis history.
While the margins are very small, Djokovic has once again claimed the top spot in the list which includes some big names like Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, and John McEnroe other than Nadal. Borg has a W-L % of 82.4 while Federer, with a mammoth 1251 wins has a W-L % of 82 followed by Connors at 81.8% and McEnroe at 81.7%.
The Astana Open was Djokovic’s 90th career title. He has now become only the 5th player in tennis history to win over 90 ATP titles. He is just two titles behind Nadal’s tally of 92 career titles and just 4 behind Ivan Lendl’s tally of 94 ATP titles. Jimmy Connors tops the list with 109 titles and is followed by Roger Federer with 103 scalps to his name.
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Ashish Maggo
(191 Articles Published)