Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic "would love" to come to New Zealand but is a little tired of hearing about the country.
Fear not, Tourism New Zealand, it is not a case of your marketing being particularly successful in Belgrade that has wearied the Serbian
Instead, his full-time fitness trainer spent five years down under and is constantly regaling the 22-year-old Djokovic with tales.
I ran into Djokovic at the Hilton hotel in Shanghai and asked for the obiligatory fan photo.
Cheesy, but got to be done.
Camera's are strictly banned at the press conferences and the only other time you see players walking around the stadium, they're surrounded by a posse of zealous but polite security guards.
Side by side the Serb was taller and bigger than he comes across on court.
Tvnz.co.nz: "So Novak, I'm from New Zealand, when are you going to come down there?"
Djokoivic: "New Zealand! Huh, I would love to go there. My trainer is always going on about New Zealand."
So there we go Heineken Open. No promises obviously, and the 2008 Australian Open champion would command a huge appearance fee but at least he knows which of the islands in the Pacific we are.
It turned out that Djokovic's Austrian trainer spent five years in Wellington, worked for Tennis New Zealand and married a girl from Whakatane.
Meanwhile the world number three's popularity continues to soar in China.
Already one of the most recognisable faces in the country, his triumph in last year's Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup garnered new fans and more fame.
His willingness to scatter a few phrases in Mandarin has also endeared himself to the locals.
Asked in a press conference, the smiling Serb said he had learnt the usual phrases and a few bad ones.
Pressed further, he spun out "Ni Hao" (Hello), "Xie Xie" (Thank you) and "Wo Shi Novak" (I am Novak).
His party piece was "Wo yao ni" which prompted the large Chinese contigent in the room to erupt.
"Wo Yao Ni" means "I want you".
"What's wrong with that", grinned Djokovic. "It's normal."
Some of the girls were blushing while I am sure the male
journalists just sat back in admiration.
tvnz.co.nz's Michael Burgess is in China courtesy of the
Asia New Zealand foundation and travelled there with Air New
Zealand. He is aiming to investigate the impact and legacy of the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games and will be writing about the sights and
sounds of China along the way.
Michael is in China for three weeks.
Check out his archive of articles
here
