Teenager who had Djokovic shirt snatched away speaks out against thief

The teenage girl who had Novak Djokovic's shirt stolen from her grasp on Sunday is speaking out against the middle-aged garment thief who grabbed the souvenir.

Melissa Cook, 14, had a front-row seat cheering on Djokovic during his epic victory over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final. When the world No. 1 finally defeated Nadal after five hours, 53 minutes, Cook managed to get his attention as he was changing clothes. Djokovic walked over to Cook to toss her a spare shirt, but it was grabbed instead by a woman sitting two seats away.

"I started crying because I couldn't believe that something I truly believe he meant for me was taken by someone else," the teenager told Australia's Herald Sun.

Yeah, that was pretty cold of that lady. Like we wrote on Sunday, she was like that guy at a baseball game who fights a little kid for a foul ball. There's nothing wrong with an adult catching something from an athlete. To take it from the hands of a child is unacceptable.

Cook wanted Djokovic's shirt to hang on the "Novak Wall" in her bedroom. From the looks of the video, it looks like the tennis star intended for her to get it.

"I had been yelling out to him the whole match and he had looked up and acknowledged me," she said. "Then at the end he came straight over to my direction and threw the shirt up."

Update: The woman has been identified as mother of three, Yael Rothschild. She's heard Melissa's story and insists she's keeping the shirt, saying that it was fair game for any of the spectators in the first few rows.

"When the shirt was thrown, there would have been 20 excited people, all with their hands out," she told the Herald Sun. "After (it had been) thrown, there would have been 19 disappointed people. Such is life. I am not sure how you can snatch out of the hands (of) someone sitting three seats away from you with a barrier between the seating."

Oh, I don't know. Because your arms are longer? Because you leaned over the railing? Because you put your hands in front of a teenagers and grabbed it first?

source

Kidnap one of that ladies kids.

Not only are they after all the money, but now the Rothschild's are stealing from our youth

lol@ "child" the !! is a teenager. I'm supporting that fat d|sgusting !! though, it's all fair game unless you're under 10.

[smiley]

thats harsh. bully.

Life's hard !!. Be happy you got front row seats to a tennis open. niccas get shot everyday b.

that's nothing compared to this


!!in !!

I never seen this one. That was so !!ed up that it looked like a comedy skit.

that girl has issues
she took in a shoe and a headband from 2011 of him with her

everybody is trippin off this silly !!

First of all the chick was sitting first row at the Australian Open... her Life isn't hard or bad in any way. And second of all he should have made more of an effort if he wanted it to go to the chick. PLUS she already had some stuff from the dude.

That young chick will be fine.

Rothschild

wow.....fukking n@sty, is this in america??? i can see that !! being heckled and followed to the parking lot for that !!

*waits for results*

Rothschild M & Y
(03) 9527 7957
4 Carrington Gr
St Kilda EastVIC3183

Eh wasn't as bad as some of you are making it out to be, she's 14 she'll live.

Also Yael saw a payday when he threw that shirt up. I'll snag a shirt from a 14 year old if I think I can get 10+ gs for it

Call me an !! all you want but times are tough

you know something more good might come to that lil girl now that she got slayed like that on cam
i wont doubt the tennis player will see this story and send her something if he dont oh well lol
but i can see it happening becuz it would make him look better to the public eyes
so lil girl wins from this he wins from this and that !! that snatched the shirt wins a shirt and people not liking her as much

i was at a yankee game and we had went early for BP. We were sitting in right field watching, and gardner threw a fly ball to some kid in the stands but a guy reached over and caught it. gardner didnt notice, but some nicca from the bullpen (i forget which coach it was) caught wind of it. he deadass walked all the way accross the outfield to rip this guy a new !!, and gave everyone else balls from the pen. i was like /