Novak Djokovic was tested on the court in a tough second-round Australian Open win over home favorite Alexei Popyrin, but the Serb was also riled by at least one member of the crowd.
During his 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 victory, Djokovic confronted a heckling spectator and told the fan in question to come down and to say what he wanted to say to his face.
“I mean, you don’t want to know,” Djokovic said when asked by reporters what the heckler said to him. “There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court, particularly from that corner and the same side the other corner.
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“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.
“When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down … 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.”
Djokovic, who has a record 24 grand slam men’s singles titles, including a record 10 Australian Open titles, said the confrontation with the fan might have sparked something in him, as he previously felt “quite flat” for stretches of the match.
“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,” he said.
Djokovic added that it “upsets” him if there are people in the crowd who take things too far, but insisted that he’s happy for fans to shout from the stands as long as nobody “crosses the line.”
“People have a few drinks … I guess late at night as well, that probably also has an effect on how they feel and behave,” he said.
“That’s OK. People pay tickets to come and watch us. They want to see the show. They want to have fun. They’re allowed to do that. There’s no issue in terms of I never asked anyone to leave the stadium.
“I never asked the chair umpire to take somebody out. I wouldn’t do that because he paid his ticket, and he has the right to be there and say what he wants to say and behave how he wants to behave,” added Djokovic, who said the fan had offended him and insulted him.
Much like the atmosphere, the match wasn’t pretty but Djokovic eventually booked his spot in the 2024 Australian Open third round.
Djokovic, 36, looked far from his dominant best, but the No. 1 seed was able to race away during the second half of the match to continue his run for a record-extending 11th Australian Open men’s title.