Novak Djokovic won his match at Wimbledon Monday, but after feeling disrespected by the crowd, he got on the mic during the post-game interview and had some choice words for the fans.
To note, 37-year-old Djokovic's win came in three straight sets against 21-year-old, Holger Rune, as the fans were chanting his name, by elongating the pronunciation. With that being said, the fans were actually saying, "Ruuuuuunneee" with a long "u" sound, as they usually do for the Danish player, but the Serbian tennis player mistook it for them booing him.
unreal from djokovic pic.twitter.com/epilhdWOKh
— Oscar Pearson (@oscarjpearson) July 8, 2024
"To all the fans that have respect and that stayed here tonight, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it. And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case, me. Have a gooooood night. Goooood night. Goooood night. Very goooood night," Djokovic said, making fun of the crowd.
As seemingly, the 24 Grand Slam title winner didn't realize that they weren't booing, so the reporter tried to help him out by letting him know, this is all a big misunderstanding, but he still didn't fully get it.
"I don't accept it. No, no, no, I know they were chanting for Rune. But, that's an excuse to also boo," Djokovic said. "Listen, I've been on the tour for more than 20 years. So trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works. It's fine, it's fine. It's OK. I focus on the respectful people, that have respect, that paid a ticket to watch tonight and love tennis, and appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here."
Despite getting defensive over the "fake boos," Djokovic went on to let everyone know that he was mentally tough.
"I've played in much more hostile environments. Trust me, you guys can't touch me."
After this whole situation was over, Djokovic had an interview with BBC, in which he actually stormed out of it, since the reporter kept harping on his reaction to the Wimbledon crowd.
Novak Djokovic walked out of his interview with BBC in 98 seconds
Every question was focused on the crowd last night in the Rune match
“Do you have any other questions other than the crowd? Are you focused only on that? This is the 3rd question.”
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 9, 2024
Visibly frustrated, Djokovic responded, "Do you have any questions other than the crowd? I mean are you focused only on that or are there any questions about the match, or is it solely focused on that? This is the third question already, I mean, I said what I have to say..."
And apparently he couldn't take it anymore, as Djokovic left mid-interview after 98 seconds.
In the quarterfinal round, the all-time Grand Slam record holder will face off with Alex de Minaur July 10, at 9:45 am ET. With this in mind, the fans will be careful not to make any noise that rhymes with "boo," unless they want to get an earful from the current No. 2 ranked tennis player in the world.
Sliding into quarters. Goooooooooooood night 🙂 pic.twitter.com/3kAuFG2Luo
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) July 8, 2024
Related: Novak Djokovic Relinquishes No. 1 Ranking After Withdrawing From French Open
