I SAT in Novak Djokovic's car last week in Melbourne.

Only pity was that the Serbian world No. 3 and Australian Open defending champion was not in it.

The 21-year-old, having finished his duties early at the launch of his signature Falcon range of adidas tennis apparel at Melbourne's iconic State Theatre, decided not to wait half an hour for his 4.30pm transport back to the hotel and hitched a ride in an adidas staff's car instead. He was rushing for evening practice at Melbourne Park.

So, myself and another Singapore journalist, initially planning to flag a cab down, were offered by adidas a ride in his chartered car to the Melbourne airport for our flight home.

This was last Sunday, on the eve of the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open. Any professional athlete would have rathered put their legs up and got as much rest as they could before a big tournament, but the ever crowd-pleasing Djokovic obliged his sponsors instead.

Even on the back of two weeks of dismal results (he was top-seeded at the Brisbane and Sydney Internationals but had upsets in both) and in the midst of getting used to a two-week-old racket (he changed sponsors from Wilson to Head at the beginning of the year), the Serbian still managed to entertain some 30 media at the launch.

He performed on a 2 1/2-metre high elevated tennis court, playing a short volley game at the net with an Australian player. True to his "clown prince of tennis" stature - thanks to his candid impersonations of his rivals - Djokovic hammed it up, hitting balls behind his back and through his legs.

In the next stunt, a falcon named Molly perched on his arm. "This is my new girlfriend," he joked.

After a few minutes, Molly was sent backstage and it began squawking incessantly. "She misses me," quipped Djokovic.

He's taken, girls.
ST Photo: Jeanette Wang

Batches of 10-minute long one-on-one media interviews followed, and the player continued in his professional and obliging ways, spending over an hour answering question after question. In his interview with The Straits Times, he answered every question articulately, though halfway through the interview he did seem a bit distracted.

I don't blame him. If I were in his shoes, the only thing on my mind would be the competition. The last thing I would want to do is spend a draining afternoon entertaining and obliging the media. On the day before a race, I usually just put my feet up, lie in bed and vegetate. You want to be as rested and relaxed as possible before the big day.

But, that's just me.

Djokovic? He's a delight and a true professional.