Why did defending Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic pull out a golf club for his 2012 Centre Court debut?
(Head)
Was the transition from red clay to green grass really that confusing? Did he accidentally switch bags with Caroline Wozniacki's boyfriend, Rory McIlory? Was he hoping a soft wedge would help him carry Court No. 1?
The possibilities are far more attractive than the actual answer. Djokovic pulled out the club before his match against Juan Carlos Ferrero as part of a marketing ploy with apparel maker Head. The company is unveiling its new upright tennis racquet bag at Wimbledon and the golf/tennis crossover was apparently too good to resist.
"My sponsor provided me with a junior golf club," Djokovic said after the match. "The racquet bags look like golf clubs. [...] Fans corrected me straight away, saying 'this is not a golf club'. We were trying to come up with something different."
A JUNIOR CLUB? Who is he, David Ferrer? I only hope he repaired his divot. If the All England Club is that particular about the colors players wear, I'd imagine you could get waterboarded for leaving the remnants of a chunked 7-iron on Centre Court.
Head's tennis bags can stand upright using the kickstands that helped change weekend rounds of golf worldwide. The company boasts that the tennis bag will also lay flat when folded up. Let's hope this leads to escalating bag wars between manufacturers. If Roger Federer's bag doesn't double as a cardigan by the U.S. Open, then this will all have been for naught.