I’m very grateful to him: Djokovic on Kobe Bryant's help; hours before latter's death

The news came in on Sunday evening that Kobe Bryant, NBA legend, had died in a helicopter crash in California. Later on, more details emerged that his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, too, had died alongside him in the crash. In total, nine people, including the copter pilot lost their lives. Bryant was 41 years old. 

On Sunday morning, Novak Djokovic shared about the close ties he shared with the NBA legend and how he had helped him get past the problems that had ailed him in 2017. Referring to Bryant’s valuable advice, the 32-year-old said, “Kobe has been one of my mentors. I’ve had several phone conversations with him and also of course when we see each other live in the past couple of years. When I was going through the injury with my elbow and struggling to mentally and emotionally handle all of these different things that were happening to me and dropping in the rankings and then having to work my way up, he was one of the people who was really there for me to give me some very valuable advice and guidelines to kind of believe and trust in myself, trust the process that I’ll be back.”

Djokovic will play Canada's Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. The defending champion has lost just one set en route to reaching the last-eight at Melbourne Park. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2RuXB2q