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 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 O’s in “good” so they sounded like “boo.”
The interviewer tried to dissuade Djokovic from thinking anyone was trying to taunt him.At his news conference later, Djokovic was asked whether he thinks the All England Club should do something to curb rowdy fan behavior.
When the match ended, Djokovic gestured as if he were playing a violin, maybe mockingly indicating he felt bad for anyone in the arena whom he had saddened by winning and getting to the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the 15th time.
He has won the championship at Wimbledon seven times, and he was the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz last year.
“I played in much more hostile environments, trust me,” Djokovic said. “You guys can’t touch me.”
