Novak Djokovic begins his pursuit of Wimbledon glory on Tuesday, almost a year since he accused the SW19 crowd of booing him. The 24-time Grand Slam winner delivered an explosive rant after beating Holger Rune in straight sets to reach his 15th quarter-final at the All England Club.
During his match against the Dane, Djokovic looked confused as he mistook the crowd's support for Rune as boos against him. The Serb then made his thoughts on that very clear during his on-court interview with the BBC’s Rishi Persad post-match.
Djokovic made the bold claim that some in the standshad been disrespectful towards him. Trying to diffuse the situation, a confused Persad suggested: "I am hoping they were just commenting on Rune, and they were not disrespecting you."
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But that did little to ease Djokovic’s frustration as he maintained his stance, shaking his head in reply to Persad in an arena where he's been crowned champion seven times, with only Roger Federer winning more titles (8).
"They were [disrespecting me],” he replied. “I am not accepting it. No no no. I know they were cheering for Rune but that's an excuse to also boo. Listen, I have 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."
While Djokovic briefly chose to concentrate on the respectful fans, he didn't shy away from addressing those he felt had booed him, claiming they couldn't affect him. "I focus on the respectful people that pay for the ticket, and love tennis and appreciate the players and the effort the players put in here,” he continued.
"I played in much more hostile environments, trust me – you guys can't touch me. To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate it. And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player - in this case me - have a goooooooood night."
Despite making a dramatic exit by walking off immediately after those remarks, the controversy didn't end there. Later that day, Djokovic abruptly left a BBC interview after just a few minutes.
The interviewer had brought up his post-match comments just hours prior and asked Djokovic if he felt he received the respect he deserves. A visibly annoyed Djokovic responded: "Look, as I said in the post-match interview, I thanked all of the people.”
He was then interrupted by the interviewer, who probed further about the crowd's impact on his performance. The tennis icon quickly challenged the reporter: "Do you have any other questions other than the crowd?
“I mean, are you focussed only on that or do you have any questions about the match or something like that, or is it solely focussed on that?"
When the reporter noted that Djokovic himself had first mentioned the crowd following his victory over Rune, the Serbian hit back with: "Well, I mean, this is the third question already. I said what I had to say."
The conversation finally shifted when the reporter asked about Djokovic's next match against Australian star Alex de Minaur, to which a disengaged Djokovic gave a brief reply before prematurely standing up and leaving as he said: "Yeah, I look forward to it. It's going to be a tough one. Thanks."
He will be hoping for a less frustrating Wimbledon experience this time around as he pursues his first Grand Slam title since September 2023. Djokovic gets underway when he faces Alexandre Muller in the first round on Tuesday on Centre Court.
