Novak Djokovic Slams Wimbledon Crowd For Booing Him

During an on-court interview on Monday, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic slammed the Wimbledon crowd since he felt they were being “disrespectful” following his victory over Holger Rune. The 24-time Grand Slam champion defeated Rune 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2 before getting his point across to spectators.

“To all the fans that have respect and stayed here tonight: thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. To all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player – in this case me, have a goooood night,” Djokovic remarked. The tennis star emphasized the o’s in “good” to mimic the sounding of “boos.”

BBC interviewer Rishi Persad attempted to ensure Djokovic that the crowd was praising Rune and that they weren’t trying to disrespect him.

The tennis star later commented that he “knew all the tricks.” “I know they were cheering for Rune, but that’s an excuse to also boo,” Djokovic said. When questioned regarding rowdy fan behavior, the Serbian athlete replied: “The crowd has the right to choose how to cheer and how they want to behave towards other players.”

Rune didn’t make much out of Djokovic’s rant.

“He was just better than me today,” the Danish star said. “Whether the crowd was this or that, I think it was great support for both players to be honest.”

Rune is Denmark’s highest-ranked male tennis player in the ATP’s singles rankings as he ranked fourth in August 2023 – he is currently ranked 15th in the singles rankings, behind Ben Shelton and ahead of France’s Ugo Humbert. Djokovic is number two, behind Italy’s Jannik Skinner. In his next match, Djokovic will face Aussie star Alex De Minaur in the quarterfinals.