Djokovic set to play key role in Europe’s Ryder Cup quest as Donald plays joker

McIlroy and Team Europe practice ahead of Ryder Cup

Europe are set to play their Ryder Cup joker tomorrow – by calling in Novak Djokovic to give an impassioned call to arms. Captain Luke Donald is understood to have called in the World No 1 tennis player to address his team in Rome ahead of the clash with the USA.

Djokovic is a keen golfer and will be at Marco Simone Country Club on Wednesday to take part in the celebrity All-Star Ryder Cup match. The Serb will follow the likes of Pep Guardiola, Sir Alex Ferguson and Paul O’Connell who helped to inspire past European triumphs.

“There’s certain things we will be doing this week just to make sure we are working on being a team,” said Donald. “I don’t think you necessarily need large voices within the team room.

“You just need pretty good clarity on why you’re here, what the reason is and how you’re going to accomplish your goal. You know, these guys are very motivated, and then they seem very unified.”

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Team Europe are not simply relying on Djokovic to motivate them though as Jon Rahm has revealed that the team have watched inspirational videos together to spur them on, with messages from family and friends included in clips. He explained: “I don’t know how much of that they’re going to post, so that’s kind of personal for us. You’ve got, I think, very few people in those [team] rooms – because we have some individual videos and some collective videos. There’s very few players not shedding a few tears yesterday afternoon. I can say that.

“It was a lot of family-related and the reason why all of us are here. I don’t want to say too much more than that. But I think even for people that are related, it’s going to definitely – if you guys were to watch it, it would make you feel a lot of the same emotions we felt.”

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Djokovic is set to take part in the celebrity golf event alongside a plethora of sporting stars, as well as golf legends Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin. Former Real Madrid star Gareth Bale and Ukraine hero Andriy Shevchenko are also set to compete, as well as Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz.

US Open winner Djokovic will be representing ‘Team Monty’ (Montgomerie) and has his sights set on making an impact for his side. He explained: “I can’t wait to tee it up in Rome and experience the incredible atmosphere of a Ryder Cup, which has become legendary. The course looks like a fantastic test of golf and my playing partner Kipp, a seasoned pro, has won a lot on the G4D Tour recently so I’m confident we can get a point for the team.”

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