Novak Djokovic and His History of Playing Against the Crowd

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic isn't new to playing against a hostile crowd in tennis tournaments around the world.

Novak Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, is no stranger to playing in front of hostile crowds at tennis tournaments around the world. In the fourth-round clash against Holger Rune at Wimbledon 2024, another chapter was written in this unique book.

The Center Court crowd had many Danish supporters cheering for Rune. However, those fans started booing Djokovic, which he found “disrespectful.” Consequently, the Serbian turned on them and improved his game, while Rune and those disrespectful fans watched helplessly.

Djokovic was asked about the incident in his post-match interview and the post-match press conference. He explained his stance and urged the crowd to respect the players for their efforts.

However, many people on social media believe that the former World No.1 had lost the plot. Some fans stated that the fans were only supporting Rune and Djokovic misinterpreted it. Regardless of which side of the coin the fans look at, they know that the Serbian plays at his maximum potential when the crowd is against him.

The crowd’s taste for Novak Djokovic has been evident as early as 2008. In that year’s US Open, former World No.1 Andy Roddick mocked his fitness by listing 16 injuries. After the Serbian beat him at Flushing Meadows, he mocked Roddick for his comments, which drew massive jeering from the American crowd.

Although that episode was over, his start of dominance and standing toe to toe with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer was when the hate for him reached another level. In Federer’s ‘Last Twelve Days’ documentary, the Swiss Maestro said that the Belgrade native was more of a “party crasher” for the Federer and Nadal fans as the tennis circuit was divided between those two titans.

Hence, when Djokovic came into the spotlight, tennis fans couldn’t stand him and didn’t want to see the Serbian break the dominance those two had. There have been many examples in which Djokovic has played matches against those two tennis legends, and the crowd has gone against him.

The biggest example was the Wimbledon 2019 final against Federer when the Serbian was down two championship points but came back to win 13-12 in the final set. Djokovic claimed that he had to do a lot of mental training to ensure that he didn’t get distracted by the crowd’s reactions.