Djokovic pulls a Tebow

During a dramatic fifth set in the Australian Open final, I could not help but notice the world's number 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic, as he fiddled with something he wore around his neck. Actually, he fished something tied to a cord hidden under his shirt and kissed it. I supported his opponent in the match, Rafael Nadal, for two reasons -- he was the slight underdog, and Nadal is left-handed. I feel it is important that we "lefties" stick together. Plus, it's harder to pull for the favorite, in my opinion. However, I do enjoy watching both men play the game and pull for both against different opponents. You can only pull for one in the final, though. Right? Clearly after five hours of tennis, these two men were as equal as you could get. In fact, Djokovic was losing the match, down a break. Then he seemed to catch a second wind. It also seemed the better he played, the more Djokovic played with the object around his neck. What exactly was Djokovic kissing? On closer observation, it was a simple wooden cross. Match commentator Patrick McEnroe helpfully described Djokovic as "kissing his necklace." But it was obviously a plain wooden cross. Not a crucifix, but a cross. To alleviate any possible confusion about the meaning of his gesture, Djokovic began to overtly make the sign of the cross over his entire upper torso after winning key points. Yesterday, the biggest points all seemed to go his way late in the fifth set. My atheist friends who watched the match probably got irritated by Djokovic's antics, quite possibly to the … [Read more...]