'I Had Enough': Djokovic Explains Heckler Confrontation At Australian Open

Wednesday, 17 January 2024 at 20:45

byAlex Waite

Novak Djokovic shared the reasons why he confronted a heckler during his 2024 Australian Open second-round clash against Alexei Popyrin.

Things were heated at the Rod Laver Arena during Djokovic's clash with Australian player Popyrin, with the crowd vocal against the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Despite getting off to a flying start in the first set before dropping the second, Djokovic eventually reached the third round after besting Popyrin across four sets.

After a third-set tiebreak and whilst leading the fourth set, the Serbian had enough of the jeers and comments from the crowd. The 36-year-old confronted one particular spectator and invited them down to speak, but Djokovic explained after the match that it was a heated moment that just tipped him over the edge.

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"I mean, you don't want to know . There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court, particularly from that corner, and the same side the other corner. I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had enough, and I asked him whether he wants to come down and tell it to my face."

Following the confrontation, Djokovic went up another level in his play and broke Popyrin to take a 4-2 lead in the fourth set. The Serbian then closed out the contest with relative ease.

"When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn't have the courage to come down. That's what I was asking him. If you have courage, if you're such a tough man, tough guy, come down and tell it to my face, and let's have a discussion about it."

When reflecting on the incident, Djokovic said it possibly gave him additional motivation to win the match. But the 10-time Australian Open winner explained that he would rather avoid such heated moments where possible.

"Yeah, maybe that was needed. I don't know. Look, I don't want to be in those types of situations. Yeah, I was flat I guess emotionally."

"Game-wise I was quite flat for some part of the match, end of second set, most of the third set. Maybe that was needed for me to be shaken up a bit and start to find the kind of intensity on the court that I needed to have all match."