Perhaps the Centre Court crowd was showing support for Novak Djokovic’s opponent by chanting his name. Or maybe they were booing Djokovic himself, possibly trying to unsettle him. The 24-time Grand Slam winner believed it was the latter — and he made it clear he was displeased.
Djokovic comfortably defeated 15th-seeded Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in a little over two hours on Monday night to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. After the match, he took a moment to address what he perceived from some of the spectators.
Rune’s fans often elongate his last name with cheers like, “Ruuuuuune!” — which can sound like “Boooooo!” — and this occurred again during the match.
During his post-match interview on court, Djokovic initially discussed the match but then turned his attention to the crowd.
“To all the fans who showed respect and stayed here tonight: Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it. And to those who chose to disrespect the player — in this case, me — have a goooood night. Gooooood night. Gooooood night,” he said, drawing out the “Os” in “good” to sound like “boo.”
The interviewer tried to suggest that the crowd may not have been taunting him intentionally.
“They were. They were. They were. I don’t accept it. I know they were cheering for Rune. But that’s an excuse to also boo,” Djokovic responded. “Listen, I’ve been on the tour for more than 20 years. So trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s OK. I focus on the respectful people, who have respect, who paid for a ticket to watch tonight — and love tennis. And appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here.”
