Rory McIlroy has encouraged his European teammates to learn from tennis star Novak Djokovic when it comes to dealing with the hostile American crowds at this year’s Ryder Cup in New York.
The Northern Irishman explained how Djokovic gave the team a motivational talk before their sweeping victory over the USA in Rome two years ago and admitted the Serb’s mentality is ‘the best’.
McIlroy watched Djokovic’s US Open quarter-final victory over American Taylor Fritz on Tuesday evening and was impressed by how the 38-year-old handled the pressure from the partisan crowd.
“It was a very pro-American crowd. He’s been the best at handling that,” said McIlroy. “He’s had to deal with it his whole life, whether it’s playing against an American in New York or playing against Roger [Federer] or Rafa [Nadal].”
McIlroy is at the K Club this week, the course in which he won his only Irish Open title nine years ago, as he looks to maintain his fine season form ahead of the Ryder Cup which takes place between 26-28 September this year.
Team Europe are hoping to win on American soil for the first time since the ‘miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 and McIlroy feels as though he and his teammates will need to manage the expectedly boisterous supporters at Bethpage and has pointed to Djokovic as his inspiration on how to do that.
McIlroy added: “He came and spoke to us a little bit about that stuff last time in Rome, so maybe [it’s about] taking a leaf out of his book and channelling that energy the right way. All we can do is control our reaction and our emotions to it. I think the less we play into it, the better it is for us.”
European captain Luke Donald made his six captain’s picks on Monday and an unprecedented 11 of the 12 players victorious in Rome will head to the US for the competition.
McIlroy, meanwhile, his hoping to contine his fine season in Dublin this week yet has eyes on a historic Ryder Cup victory.
“Obviously I’d love to win this week, I’d love to win next week at Wentworth [the BMW Championship],” he said. “But if we were to win an away Ryder Cup with everything else that I’ve been through this year, 2025 would be the best year of my career.”
