So I took a day off reading case law and postmodern theory and decided to return to a happy place of my childhood – yes, folks, Dootsiez went to the zoo. Chunky heels and all, clutching onto her phone for dear life. But surprisingly, I had a fantastic time, and just to show how following tennis has made me slightly socially dysfunctional, for every single animal we saw at Melbourne Zoo, I tried to name a tennis player that would fit the character or the general “vibe” of the animal. For some animals, it was dead simple, for others, like the poisonous purple dart frog, it was much harder.
Rafael Nadal: the King Kong. Need I say more?
Maria Sharapova: Didn’t actually see one but Maria would be a snow leopard, not for the speed, but the intensity
Andy Murray: long limbs and a certain craftiness – I’d say he’d make a good orang-utan
Not terribly original, but Ana Ivanovic: the Koala
Novak Djokovic: the maned wolf.
The enigmatic Justine Henin: the tawny frogmouth, the eyes was what got me.
Marat Safin: the happy hippo of course.
But in case you thought he was just adorably harmless…
Jelena Jankovic: the grey kangaroo. Boin. Boin. Boin. Boin.
Lleyton Hewitt: the Tasmanian Devil – small, stinky, ferocious, and noisy.
Ivo Kalovic: the giraffe for the gentle giant
Fabrice Santoro: the meerkat
Venus: the eagle
Serena: the Tigress. Rawr!
Roger Federer: who else but the Lion King?
As for the million dollar question: what animal would I be if given the choice? Though I don’t fancy the mortality rate, I’d like to be a wild stag. What say you?
Image Credit: Melbourne Zoo, Wikipedia.
Filed under: ATP, Misc, WTA | Tagged: Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray, Fabrice Santoro, Ivo Karlovic, Jelena Jankovic, Justine Henin, Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Venus Williams
LOL! Hilarious…
Not sure about Marat Safin – although I suppose he is ‘larger than life’.
Sharapova’s spot on (the only other option would be a Siberian Tiger) – be nice to get full size (fiercer) versions for both her and Serena…
My personal favourites: Andy Murray, Fabrice Santoro (Brilliant) and Novak Djokovic (uncanny)…
OK, I came over from Freakyfrites’s site, and I have to say that this is such a great post! I agree with Topspin’s favorites, but I also love Rafa and Roger and Jelena.
If I could be an animal, it would be a tiger — preferably with no humans around : – (
Topspin, the Safin-as-hippo thing comes from this quote:
“I’m not fighting with myself. Oh, my God. That’s how I am. You know, the story of the hippo? The hippo comes to the monkey and said, listen, I’m not a hippo. So, he paint himself like a zebra. He said but he’s still a hippo. He said but look at you, you’re painted like a zebra but you are a hippo. So then he goes, you know, like I want be a little parrot. So, he put the colours on him and he comes to the monkey and said but, sorry, you are a hippo. So, in the end, you know, he comes and said I’m happy to be a hippo. This is who I am. So, I have to be who I am and he’s happy being a hippo. ” – Marat Safin after 1st round defeat to Kiefer, Toronto Master Series 2004
How can anyone not love this man I ask you? Impossible.
And welcome Liz.
Unfortunately, I don’t fancy anyone’s mortality rate as an animal these days.
haha I was googling for a link to that old TV commercial for Melbourne Zoo where they were singing that song “you belong in the zoo” and I landed on this page
Usually I’d move on because it wasn’t what I was looking for but you have tennis… LOTS of tennis, so it got me reading. Congratulations on your dedication to following it. Once upon a time, I used to follow it like that, but then I think I got old and my body couldn’t cope staying up to late hours to watch a match when I had work the next day.
Anyways, thanks for the giggle
Random Matt, aww thanks. Heehee I can’t believe you stumbled upon my blog because of the melbourne zoo ad. It’s a greatest and silliest song, not to be sung with a straight face.
Trust me I know what you mean about not coping with the late hours of tennis – I was up til 3am daily watching the French Open and Wimbledon. I’m glad I made you giggle, and I hope you start following tennis again! It’s a fantastic sport with great personalities.
Haha I miss singing along to that song. I never succeeded in finding a video of the ad. I always loved singing it when the hippo did the yawn
I think I’d need to bein a relationship out with a Tennis fan to properly get back into watching it like I used to. I just don’t have the drive any more as I don’t have anyone to chat to about it at work and my mates that used to play have got kids to look after. Though I still ocasionally get Australian Tennis magazine
Ana I as a koala? perfect!!! the both have cute faces. I would say Serena would be a camel. I also see Amelie Mauresmo & Elena Dementieva as racing greyhounds. Somebody in a forum I hang out in thinks Nadia Petrova looks like a hamster….
Nadia Petrova as a hamster? I’d imagine someone a lot smaller, like Alize Cornet as a hamster
Like Random Matt, I also came across this looking for the melbourne zoo ad, but I wasnt interested in the tennis analogies as I do not know the players that the animals pertain to. Does anyone know where we can find this ad? Random Matt, can you please follow up on whether you found your goal in order to help myself and other internet users who followed in your footsteps reaching this blog while searching for the “You belong in the zoo” melbourne zoo ad? We are hurting.
Anthony, can’t help you there. I wanted to include the ad in this post, cos I thought no one outside Australia would get the title, but I couldn’t find a clip of this video myself.
how can such an awesome, quirky ad not be on youtube?
I never found it either. I so agree with you dootsiez; it should be on youtube. I still want to sing along to it. Maybe we should petition the Melbourne Zoo to put their ad on youtube LOL
If that fails, dootsiez and I can sing it together and make out own ad :p It can’t be too hard. dootsiez has the looks and I’ll have the deep voice (after a crash course in singing)
I’ll try super-hard to look like a hippo!
haha. I’ll do my best to be a monkey. I’ve had plenty of practice at work with climbing up the palet racks
shhh! don’t tell my boss
My younger sister wants to make a snow cheetah, since her favorite animal is the cheetah and white would be a beautiful color on it. I told her if a snow leapord and a regular cheetah mated, it would turn out to be a snow cheetah. Do you think my strategy would work?
These are awesome photos. The eagle is simply amazing. I saw somewhere there’s a wildlife group trying to get Apple computers to help save Snow Leopards. I guess they just came out with something called Snow Leopard lol. I don’t know… it might be good PR for Apple- they should jump on it. Thanks for the great pics.
To Michael,
It’s a wildlife condervation group in Tucson AZ. The Apple computers have a new application or an upgrade or something wich they are calling Snow Lepoard. Lol. Anyway great PR for Apple if they decide to work for the group. Could also help the conservation group out a lot as well. Here’s a link to their facebook page if anyone is intrested.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=711769156&v=photos&ref=ts#/pages/Tucson-AZ/Snow-Leopard-Conservation/127541594840?ref=ts
To Jon,
Hey I went on that facebook link. Cool pics of snow leopards. So I guess there advertising with apple or something?…..