Novak Djokovic was booed by the Australian crowd during his final against Dominic Thiem recently
New York Times journalist Ben Rothenberg believes that World No.1 Novak Djokovic is hated by tennis fans despite how much he works for the game and the fans.
Rothenberg even took to twitter to support his claim by retweeting some photos he had taken of Djokovic signing autographs in Cincinnati last year, saying:
“While Djokovic may not get much crowd support in big matches, he’s reliably the best with his fan interactions.”
“In my experience observing Djokovic and others at tournaments all over the tour, no top singles player takes more time to make sure that people who came to see him get as positive an interaction with him as possible.
“He consistently gives quality, even without getting quantity.”
The journalist was of the opinion that fans around the world do not offer Djokovic the respect he deserves, despite the player delivering consistently at the highest level.
In my experience observing Djokovic and others at tournaments all over the tour, no top singles player takes more time to make sure that people who came to see him get as positive an interaction with him as possible.
He consistently gives quality, even without getting quantity.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) February 3, 2020
The Serbian star, who recently added an eighth Australian Open title to his overall 17 Grand Slams witnessed a not so welcoming reaction from the crowd in Australia.
Despite displaying his dominance in the hardcourt for the past several years, winning a record 8 titles there, Djokovic still fell victim to the crowd’s hatred after he was booed by them during the final match against Dominic Thiem.
Moreover, the crowd seemed to back the Austrian, who was playing his maiden Australian Open final rather than Djokovic, who is labelled as the ‘King of Australia.’
Twitter responds to Australian crowd’s behavior
Fans from around the world were quick to react as they took to Twitter to voice their opinion on the Australian crowd’s poor treatment of Novak Djokovic, with some even calling it ‘disgraceful’ and ‘embarrassing’.
Things went out of control when a visibly frustrated Djokovic blew up at a fan for calling out during a rally, telling them to “shut the f*** up.”
The fans did not take this well and were heard booing Djokovic as he complained to the umpire to take control of the situation. Here are a few twitter reactions from tennis fans around the world:
https://twitter.com/hamsiktcth/status/1223901644158468096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1223901644158468096&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fau.sports.yahoo.com%2Faustralian-open-2020-novak-djokovic-photo-exposes-harsh-truth-024918983.html
https://twitter.com/AFLsportsman/status/1223902862096269312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1223902862096269312&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fau.sports.yahoo.com%2Faustralian-open-2020-novak-djokovic-photo-exposes-harsh-truth-024918983.html
Disgraceful Attitude by Rod Laver Arena crowd vs Djokovic
— Socrates Miles (@Socrate90000750) February 2, 2020
Never understood it either. True, Nole has at times withdrawn mid-match due to injuries. But so has Nadal. And no one has ever held that against him. Nadal has even dropped out of tournaments at the last minute–for mysterious reasons. Again Nadal remains beloved by the fans.
— George Szamuely (@GeorgeSzamuely) February 3, 2020
Another biased anti Djokovic crowd
— Takudzwa 🐃 (@ProphetTaku) February 2, 2020
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