Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic the towel thief

Serb admits being light-fingered

Novak Djokovic sprints forward to return a shot from James Ward (Getty)

Novak Djokovic admits that he pretends to be sweating profusely so that he can sneak extra towels into his tennis bag to give to friends as souvenirs when he goes back home.

“I kind of plan in advance space in half of a bag or an entire new bag for the towels that I take from Wimbledon,” the defending champion said after his first-round victory over James Ward. “There are plenty of requests each year for Wimbledon towels particularly.

“I try to sneak in an extra towel here and there during the match, using the excuse that it’s too warm and I’m sweating. Actually I just put an extra towel in the bag. I’m sure the All England Club committee will forgive me for that extra towel per match.

“It makes a lot of people who are close to me back in my country happy. The towels are great memorabilia. I have plenty of towels from other Grand Slams at home as well, but I also give away a lot.”

Djokovic also admitted that All England Club officials had advised him not to bring a bicycle into the grounds. The world No 1 had arrived by bike when he was practising last week.

“I was asked for my own safety not to arrive with the bicycle inside of the All England Club territory,” Djokovic said. “From the gate of Aorangi where I enter with the bicycle to the transportation desk, which is a little uphill, literally 20 metres, there is very dangerous traffic around there, so for my own safety, I accepted their suggestion. Since then I haven’t come to the club by bike.”