Novak Djokovic has plenty of experience playing against the crowd, but the Italian fans on Tuesday night at the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin were something else.
Indoor tennis is always very special because it's a rather intimate affair. Everybody in a closed-off room makes the experience quite a bit bigger than usual, and it's partly why the Davis Cup is generally played indoors.
It makes the whole crowd experience much better for everybody involved, and the players could certainly feel it last night. Sinner felt the overwhelming support while Djokovic got heavily booed often. It's nothing new for him and he saw the funny side more than a few times during the match.
After the match, though, he gave his verdict on the crowd experience, calling it expected as he was facing an Italian in Italy. The Italians are known to be very supportive, but that's the case with most crowds.
Well, I mean, it was expected. Obviously him being the only Italian in the tournament, playing in Italy, there was a big hype, a big excitement for him to play in front of his home crowd. He's in a great form. It's normal that crowd wanted him to win.
Djokovic had plenty of support in his first match against Holger Rune, so it's not like the Turin crowd is against him. But no player will get the support of them against Sinner, which is what makes him a very dangerous player this week.
As for Djokovic, he now looks ahead to a very crucial match against Hubert Hurkacz, who entered the event as an alternate following the injury of Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic obviously needs a win, and he'll hope for some crowd support in that one. The match will be played on Thursday, so stick with us for any updates.
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