Novak Djokovic fans applaud US writer who criticized Kobe Bryant tribute

The 2023 US Open witnessed a touching moment when Serbia’s Novak Djokovic paid tribute to late basketball legend and friend Kobe Bryant.

Djokovic, who secured a record-extending 24th Grand Slam after defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3, wore a special T-shirt with a picture of him next to Bryant. Sportskeeda mentionted.

The shirt was emblazoned with the words “Mamba Forever” — a reference to the basketball star’s nickname, “Black Mamba” — and the number 24, which has double meaning as it was both Kobe Bryant’s jersey number and the overall number of Djokovic’s Grand. Slam wins.

During the trophy ceremony, the world No.1 explained that he chose to wear it because Bryant was a “close friend” and someone he “relied on the most”.

“Kobe was a close friend, we talked a lot about the winning mentality when I was struggling with injury and trying to make a comeback, get back to the top of the game. He was one of the people I relied on the most,” he said.

However, American author Ann Coulter in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared her blog post where she called Djokovic’s tribute “absurd”, infuriating tennis fans online.

“Congratulations, Novak! You had a black boyfriend. And now that he’s gone, there’s only the memory that I once had a black friend,” Coulter wrote. “The whole production was so ‘absurd’, it looked like a Borat sketch of a vulgar foreigner who had never met a black man. .”

One fan responded to her comments, arguing that there was no justification for Coulter to “show off skin color” and “tarnish” Djokovic’s reputation as she was simply honoring the memory of a friend.

Another fan pointed out that Coulter had misinterpreted Djokovic’s victory speech, turning it into a “race issue” instead of acknowledging it as a sincere tribute to his “friendship” with Bryant, which had been a source of strength during the ” of hard patches’. career.