German field hockey star: I was completely petrified when I met Novak Djokovic

German field hockey star Nike Lorenz was left a bit star-struck when when she met 17-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro four years ago. 

"Just when I thought I could leave the tourist mode and become an ambitious athlete again, we met Djokovic during his evening regeneration run,” Lorenz said to faz.net, as revealed on Essentially Sports.

Djokovic, ranked at No. 1 in the world, has been one of the most accomplished and worldwide popular sportsmen over the last decade. 

Lorenz, who competed for the German national field hockey team, hoped she would see Djokovic in the village and her dream came true.

"In the athletes’ village, we meet Novak Djokovic. For the first time in my life, I was completely petrified” Lorenz admitted.

“Of course, we had discussed beforehand who we really hoped to meet among the big stars of the sports world. Novak Djokovic was high on my list."

Djokovic, who arrived to the Rio Olympics hoping to claim his maiden gold medal, left the Olympics disappointed after falling short to 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the first round. 

Djokovic, who turned 33 years this past May, has accomplished pretty much everything what a tennis player could accomplish and winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics is certainly high on his list of goals.

Djokovic praised by NBA star Nikola Vucevic 

Orlando Magic star Vucevic came to the defense of Djokovic who has reaceived a lot of criticism over the last few months, saying the Serb has done a lot for his people and suggesting he deserves more respect.

"He is the best ambassador that Serbia has had in history. How he behaves, how he represents the state and how he proudly talks about it, and people again had so many negative opinions about him and it was by no means clear to me," Vucevic said on Sport Klub's Spor(t)light.

"He is an athlete who is born once in who knows how many years. It is completely unclear to me to blame him for something.

"I really appreciate Novak. I had the opportunity to meet him, watch him live and talk to him after the matches. It can be seen that Nole is a great champion and a great man. It is ugly how they treated him, he did not deserve it in any way."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3gbdDrc