Not A Laugh In The Lot: A One Djok Wonder
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 20, 2008
NOVAK Djokovic's impressions are more popular with the Australian Open crowds than Marat Safin with his shirt off. His Maria Sharapova is spot on and his Rafael Nadal, complete with exaggerated crotch pulling to the point where it's almost pornographic, is very funny. But is Djokovic the only funny to be had? Are there other tennis players out there with hidden comedic potential?
I go to the tennis determined to find out. Yesterday's crowd at Vodafone Arena, where Sebastien Grosjean is playing James Blake, is liquored up, full of sugar and ready for a laugh. It should be an easy get. A bit of whacky face-pulling during the warm up session would be all it would take to get them on their feet. The game starts, the game ends. There's plenty of drama and nail-biting excitement but no funny. I'm disappointed, especially with Grosjean. He's nuggety (always good for laughs) and wears his cap backwards. That screams comedy gold, yet he didn't mine it. Still, that's a pretty accurate impression of a French comedian. Maybe Djokovic has competition, after all.Over at Rod Laver, Marin Cilic is finishing off Fernando Gonzalez. Again, no funny on the court, but having hundreds of Chileans and Croatians in the same room has potential. Cheers, songs and slogans are being yelled in every language. It's like the United Nations during happy hour. Later, I watch Roger Federer play Janko Tipsarevic. My expectations are low. Federer is no clown. Perhaps at home he pops the Harlem Globetrotters' theme on the stereo and bounces a tennis ball off his backside, but on the court, while there's unexpected tension as he flies by the seat of his freakishly well-ironed shorts, there's not even a snigger to be had.I wish Andy Roddick was still in the tournament. His outbursts early yesterday were inspired. My favourite: "Kids, stay in school so you don't become an umpire." But maybe he wasn't angry. Maybe he could see the game was slipping away and thought, "Bugger it, I'll pull out my McEnroe impression and leave 'em rolling in the aisles." He would have got a standing ovation from me if he'd followed up with a touch of Damir Dokic.Finally, it's time to see Djokovic in action. He's all affable smiles and goofy lovability. Young girls scream for him to marry them. Being the joker, it turns out, is sexy. If only I could convince my audiences of that. Corinne Grant is a Melbourne comedian.
© 2008 The Sunday Age