'His passing hurt me deeply.'
Novak Djokovic has explained why he decided to wear aAmerican NBA legend Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter crash three years ago at the age of 41 along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.
Djokovic said in his post-match interview that he was close with the Los Angeles Lakers hero and wanted to pay tribute to the basketball great in front of the‘I thought by doing the t-shirt… I didn’t share it with anyone until a few days ago,’ the Serbian said in his on-court interview. ‘Kobe was a close friend, we chatted a lot about the winners mentality when I was struggling with injury and try to work my way back to the top he was one of the people I relied on the most he was always there for support in the most friendly way.
‘His passing hurt me deeply and 24 is the jersey he wore at Lakers so I thought it would be nice to acknowledge him.’ Djokovic has won seven of the last 12 Grand Slams – absent from two of those and a finalist in two others – and says his 24th trophy ‘means the world’ to him as he further cemented his position as arguably the greatest tennis player of all time.The story behind the friendship between two of the greatest athletes ever ð