Novak Djokovic had a dust-off with the Wimbledon crowd in his win over Holger Rune and expanded on his thoughts during his press conference.
The Serbian played Rune in the fourth round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, and while he won the match, Djokovic clashed with the crowd. The crowd was heavily chanting Rune's name, which seemed to bother the seven-time champion, as it resembled booing, and he mocked them after winning the second set.
The Serbian then called out the crowd after winning the match, calling them disrespectful. While his Danish opponent was certain that his name was shouted, when asked after the match, Djokovic further expanded on the situation and crowds in general during his press conference.
"I don’t know what Wimbledon can really do about it. In those particular moments, when the crowd paid their ticket… They have the right to be there and cheer the way they want to cheer. That’s absolutely, you know… how they choose to behave or support the player is really up to them."
"Yes... You could argue that maybe a chair umpire or whoever could step in during certain moments and calm them down. But there’s not much you can do.. you’re not gonna take out the section of the whole stadium out because they’re behaving or showing disrespect. It’s just the way it is. It’s part of the sport."
It's a tricky situation because the crowd can't be really moderated that well. Similar situations have happened in the past and will likely continue to happen in the future, and players will always just have to find a way to overcome that.
Djokovic was able to, but he also got a little distracted, even though it didn't show on the result, and reacted the way he did, both during the match and afterwards. Still, the 37-year-old owned it, standing behind his words.
"It’s one of the reasons we’re here… it’s why the tournament is so important historically and why we’re globally recognized as tennis players is because of the fans. Because of the interest they put into watching tennis matches, paying tickets.. I respect that. I try to acknowledge that."
"All the true tennis fans that really respect players.. of course you’re gonna support one player over the other. It’s solely up to them. It’s fully understandable. They have the freedom to choose who they back in the match. If someone steps over the line, I react. That’s basically what it was. After the match I said what I said."
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