“Everyone is devastated”

“Everyone who loves the sport and pursues it is devastated,” wrote Germany’s best tennis player Alexander Zverev on social networks. The fatally injured former basketball superstar was “a true professional and role model for anyone who followed this man on his trip, but at the same time a father and a family man”.

The American was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday at the age of 41. The five-time NBA champion, along with his daughter Gianna (13), is officially one of the fatalities of an accident without survivors near Los Angeles. The police assume that a total of nine people were on board. Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa and three other children.

Boris Becker tweeted a video in which an actor recited the poem “Dear Basketball” written by Bryant. This resulted in the animated short film of the same name about the life of the star of the Los Angeles Lakers, for which he received an Oscar in 2018. In the poem that came as an announcement of his resignation, Bryant describes his love for basketball – the film picks up on this. “Word,” Becker wrote – true words.

World number one Rafael Nadal, who, like Zverev, has to play his round of 16 on Monday, said on Twitter that he was “in shock” at the “terrible news of the tragic death of one of the greatest athletes in the world”.

Defending champion and record winner Novak Djokovic had raved in an interview on Friday about Bryant as his “mentor” that he was “there for me” when he had to endure a serious crisis with injuries.

The two-time Grand Slam winner and Australian national hero Rod Laver (81) said on Twitter that he was “terribly sad”. Former world number one Maria Sharapova, who had already left Melbourne, wrote in personal words: “I will never forget your generosity and the time you gave me in some of my hardest hours. I am forever grateful. My heart is with you and his wonderful family. “

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