Llodra's locker shocker
CROATIA'S Ivan Ljubicic had one of the weirder starts to the day at the ATP Masters Series tournament, courtesy of French prankster Michael Llodra.
Llodra stunned Ljubicic with a nude surprise ahead of his match at the Miami tournament.
Ljubicic, who has reached four ATP finals in 2005 - losing three of them to top-ranked Swiss Roger Federer - had headed to the locker room to prepare for his 11 am match against American Vince Spadea.
After a shower, he found his belongings on the floor in front of his locker.
"I was like, 'What's going on? My stuff is on the ground'," Ljubicic said.
Noticing the locker wasn't quite shut, Ljubicic opened the doors to find the naked Llodra.
"Shock, completely shocked," Ljubicic said. "Michael Llodra naked in my locker.
"He was looking at me. I was looking at him. I said 'What the hell are you doing here? I'm trying to focus on my match"."
The surprise didn't stop Ljubicic posting a third-round victory over Spadea. But the 26-year-old was still bemused hours later.
"I was shocked. I was really shocked," he said. "He said to me, 'I'm trying to get positive energy from you. You're winning a lot of matches this year'."
Maybe it worked. Llodra and doubles partner Arnaud Clement posted a 7-6 6-3 victory over the American doubles powerhouse duo of Bob and Mike Bryan on Sunday morning.
But Ljubicic was less interested in Llodra's motiviation than in the logistics.
"It's not easy to get in that locker, I'm telling you," he said. "He is not a small guy.
"Very flexible," Ljubicic concluded. "Very, very flexible. Naked."