LONDON – Maybe the Center Court spectators greeted Novak Djokovic’s opponent by saying his name. Maybe they were booing Djokovic, trying to shake him. The 24-time Grand Slam champion I was sure it was the latter – and I told everyone I wasn’t happy about it.
Djokovic easily beat 15th-ranked Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just over two hours on Monday night to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinalsthen made sure to convey a message to the fans he felt were against him.
Rune’s supporters at various tournaments often stretch his last name, saying: “Ruuuuuune!” – which sounds quite similar to “Boooooo!” – and it happened again on Monday.
During his post-match on-court interview, Djokovic spoke briefly about the match but then went on to discuss the people in the stands.
“To all the respectful fans who stayed here tonight: thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I thank. And to all those people who chose to disrespect the player — in this case, me — have a good night. Goodnight. Goodnight. Very good night,” he said, stretching the “O” in “good” so it sounded like “boo.”
The interviewer tried to dissuade Djokovic from thinking anyone was trying to provoke him.
“They were. They were. They were. I don’t accept that. I know they were rooting for Rune. But that’s an excuse to boo too,” Djokovic said. “Listen, I’ve been on tour for over 20 years. So trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works. Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine. I focus on the respectful people, who have respect, who paid a ticket to watch tonight – and I love tennis and I appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here.
Later, at his press conference, Djokovic was asked whether he thinks the All England Club should do anything to curb rowdy fan behavior.
“Look, I don’t know what Wimbledon can really do about it. I mean, in those specific moments when that happens, the crowd paid for their tickets. They have the right to be there and cheer however they want. This is absolutely something they choose – how they behave or how they choose to support the player is really up to them,” Djokovic responded. “Yes, you could argue that maybe a chair umpire or whoever could step in at certain times and calm them down, but there’s not much you can do. You’re not going to take out the entire crowd or the stadium because they’re behaving badly or showing disrespect.”
Rune – who had a terrible start to the match, losing the first 12 points – didn’t pay much attention to all of this.
“If you don’t know what was going on, it probably sounded like ‘boo,’” he said.
“He was just better than me today,” Rune said. “Whether the crowd was this or that, I think it was a huge support for both players, to be honest.”
When the match ended, Djokovic gestured as if he was playing the violin, perhaps mockingly indicating that he felt bad for anyone in the arena for being upset to win and reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the 15th time.
He has won the Wimbledon championships seven times and was runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz last year.
“I played in much more hostile environments, believe me,” Djokovic said. “You can’t touch me.”
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