He ate a sandwich while McEnroe ranted on

Bangalore: Even as Novak Djokovic gave Bangalore a miss, Slobodan Zivojinovic lent 'star power' to the Serbian team as he trudged onto the court on Wednesday.

Courtesy: Srdjan Stevanovic

The 51-year-old 'Bobo', though a far cry from his old fit self, still displayed the touch that had the Serbian team in practice burst into cheers.

A big-server in his heydays in the 1980s and 90s, Zivojinovic is one of the irresistible characters that gives tennis its credence to individuality. One of his best moments came when he beat John McEnroe in the 1985 Australian Open quarterfinal. And it wasn't without drama.

"John McEnroe likes a bit of controversy," Zivojinovic recalls on the side lines of the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie between Serbia and India, which begins in Bangalore on Friday. "He was having an argument with the umpire, ranting on. I just put my feet up and had a sandwich in the middle of the court. I just joined some spectators and had a sandwich with them. I let him finish his performance. Of course, that pissed him off even more. It was nice that I beat him 6-0 in the fifth set."

Zivojinovic (career-best ranking of 19), is that breed of players from a united Yugoslavia, who began his tennis life constantly being mistaken for playing 'table tennis'--since the lawn tennis version hadn't really caught on. He survived the separation of states into smaller republics and losing his teammates to it, and is finally seeing Serbia rise strong as a tennis nation.

"In 1991 we were supposed to play the Davis Cup semifinal and it was a big achievement for us. But the war broke out in the summer," Zivojinovic says about the dark times. 

"My two teammates, (Goran) Ivanisevic and (Goran) Prpic, were Croats so they played for Croatia after that because that’s when our tennis separated. We had put such a lot of effort to build that team. I was sad to lose out on my friends; this was not our war."

Contarary to the demonstrations of a bitter rivalry between Croatia and Serbia now, Zivojinovic says he is proud that such small countries with such meagre population and resources have taken the tennis world by storm.

"Only 13 countries who have won the Davis Cup till now (in its 114-year history), one of them is Serbia and one of them is Croatia," he says. "That's a big achievement. More than the facilities it is because of the traditions. People of Yugoslavia always respected sport and were not afraid to give their kids to it."

And from Zivojinovic to the recently-crowned US Open champion Main Cilic of Croatia, the kids are doing alright.