Novak Djokovic gets into it with Wimbledon fans after reaching the quarterfinals
Maybe the Centre Court spectators were saluting Novak Djokovic’s opponent by saying his name.
LONDON — Maybe the Centre Court spectators were saluting Novak Djokovic’s opponent by saying his name. Maybe they were booing Djokovic, trying to rattle him. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was sure it was the latter — and he let everyone know he was not happy about it.
Djokovic easily beat 15th-seeded Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just over two hours Monday night to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, then made sure to get a message across to those fans he thought were against him.
Rune’s supporters at various tournaments often will stretch out his last name, saying, “Ruuuuuune!” — which sounds rather similar to “Boooooo!” — and that happened again Monday.
During his on-court postmatch interview, Djokovic spoke briefly about the match, but then veered into a discussion about the people in the stands.
“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 goooood night. Gooooood night. Gooooood night. Very gooooood night,” he said, stretching out the “Os” in “good” so they sounded like “boo.”
Rating: 5