Novak Djokovic wasn’t in a mood to be ‘disrespected’ at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, and he let it be known.
The Serbian’s player story is really well known. Since the moment he arrived on the ATP Tour, it was clear that he may challenge the two players who were fighting to be the best in the world at the time – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
He tried matching them on the tennis court, but also away from it, trying to get the love from fans. However, that didn’t always come easy for Djokovic, even though he often has been one of the most relatable tennis players for many.
Even to this day, according to many pundits, and probably even the 24-time major winner himself, he often doesn’t get the love from the crowd that he would probably deserve, and one instance of that happened also at SW19.
The Serbian player was taking on Holger Rune, who he beat in three sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, but this time around, it wasn’t the seven-time champion’s performance that stole the headlines, but rather the wild post-match on-court interview.
During the match, Djokovic had an issue with a group of fans, who were supporting the young Danish player by shouting his surname ‘Rune’ but when shouted in a slightly deeper voice and with prolonged middle letter ‘u’ the word resembled booing.
Djokovic was booed many times before, deservedly or, most of the times, not, so hearing such sounds on the tennis court wasn’t new to him, but it was weird to him especially when unprovoked.
Already after winning the second set, the World No. 2 returned the favor to the group of fans by mocking their celebration, putting his lips in the shape of saying the word ‘Rune’ or booing, as those two were interchangeable in this case.
But the whole situation took even more wild turn after the match, when Djokovic was doing his customary post-match on-court interview, during which he expressed his issue with the aforementioned fans.
“And to all of those people, who have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me: ‘Have a gooooood night. Gooood night, gooood night! Very good night.”
After Djokovic’s comments, the interviewer tried to save the situation, suggesting that the fans in question were just shouting his opponent’s name instead of trying to boo the Serbian player, but he didn’t share that opinion.
“I don’t accept it. I know they were cheering for Rune, but that’s an excuse to also boo. Listen, I’ve been on the Tour for more than 20 years, I know all the tricks, I know how it works.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s okay. I focus on the respectful people who have respect, who paid the ticket to come and watch tonight, love tennis, and appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here. I played in a much more hostile environment, trust me. You guys can’t touch me!”
unreal from djokovic pic.twitter.com/epilhdWOKh
— Oscar Pearson (@oscarjpearson) July 8, 2024
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