By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Grand Slam gladiator Novak Djokovic called out a heckler tonight then silenced the fan with a fierce finish.
Annoyed by a fan berating him behind the baseline, Djokovic finally had enough.
In the early stages of the fourth set, he turned, walked to the black back wall, stared down the disruptor and challenged the fan “come say it to my face.”
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That intense exchange was the fire that fueled defending champion Djokovic to a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 triumph over Aussie Alexei Popyrin to battle into the Australian Open third round for the 16th time.
“Look, I don’t want to be in those types of situations,” Djokovic said afterward. “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.”
Asked afterward what the fan was yelling at him, Djokovic replied “you don’t want to know” before sharing what happened when he reached his boiling point.
“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,” Djokovic said. “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. He was apologizing from far away. That’s all it is.”
“Don’t poke the bear” 👀
Novak Djokovic responds to a member of the crowd looking to get under his skin 🍿 pic.twitter.com/1S9wQxwemg
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 17, 2024
The 10-time AO champion said he has no issue with fans expressing themselves, but said when apparently inebriated fans cross the verbal line he will not tolerate it.
“I’m not going to sit and say it’s all good. It’s not good,” Djokovic said. “Of course, it upsets me. I’m frustrated. I don’t want to be experiencing that, but I have to accept it as it is.
“Sometimes I don’t tolerate when somebody crosses the line. That’s it. That’s what happened. People have a few drinks… I guess late at night as well, that probably also has an effect on how they feel and behave. That’s okay. People pay tickets to come and watch us. They want to see the…
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