In an extraordinary reaction, Novak Djokovic called out a section of the Wimbledon crowd at the end of his game against Holger Rune on Monday night. He felt that they were booing him, and “disrespecting him”. The crowd had been stretching out the name of his opponent, shouting out “Rooooooooooon” and Djokovic took it as a personal insult.
He would call them out, saying “Have a Goooood Night!” And he repeated it again. When the host tried to defend the fan reaction by saying that perhaps they were supporting his opponent, Djokovic snapped back, shaking his head: “They were, they were. I don’t accept it. No, no no. They were cheering for Rune but they were also booing me. I have been playing on this tour for 20 years and I know how it works. I will focus on those people who respect players, who have paid money to watch tonight and love tennis, and appreciate the players.”
He would then add, “I have played in much more hostile environments. You guys can’t touch me!”.
Zero shits given by Novak Djokovic. pic.twitter.com/FUQ1niGUsJ
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) July 8, 2024
Wimbledon has done this before. In the 2023 final, they backed the 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, the eventual champion. There were shouts of protests when the Serb took extra minutes between points, they tried to distract him as he tossed the ball to serve and the catcalls intensified when he smashed his racket against the net post.
Like this time, the excuse was that they were backing the underdog. That is far from the truth. Fact was, Djokovic, the greatest-ever men’s tennis player, wasn’t getting the love he so deserved. At Roger Federer’s second home, the fans were not ready to move on. It seemed they were way too biased to accept that Djokovic had overtaken their favourite player in the GOAT race.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Holger Rune of Denmark in their fourth round match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London. (AP)
In 2021, when Federer had lost in straight sets to Hubert Hurkacz, a rookie from Poland, Centre Court had collectively tried to pull the Swiss star out of the hole. They had heckled the youngster, cheered his errors and one die-hard RF fan had even pleaded “one more year” as Federer was leaving the court forever.
So why these double standards?
When Djokovic first arrived on the Grand Slam circuit, tennis was fiercely monogamous, most fans had taken lifelong vows to walk alongside Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal through peaks and valleys. The English language media played a role in influencing fans. They took the lead in doodling devil horns on the newcomer who had the face of a village simpleton.
There was no attempt to understand the man who wasn’t like them, made unconventional choices and took unpopular stands. Djokovic’s beliefs are based on his unique journey and life experiences. There are also those who say that the UK press had an axe to grind. Scot Andy Murray and Djokovic had a running battle since their junior days and this reflected in the way they portrayed the Serb.
Writers with Serbian roots, or those who have spent time in the Balkan area, have deep angst about the way Djokovic is perceived by those who don’t go the extra mile in understanding him. Ana Mitric, a Yugoslavian American, calls herself a tennis enthusiast and lapsed academic in her Twitter bio. As a child, she would visit Serbia during summer break. She often gets quoted when someone really makes an effort to discover the real Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia gestures to the crowd as he is interviewed after defeating Holger Rune of Denmark in their fourth round match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London. (AP)
On the Thirty Love tennis podcast with host Carl Bialik, she gives the answer the world has been asking for a long time. She laments how Djokovic was burdened with the convenient labels at the start of his career. “He doesn’t fit in a neat and tidy box … so people want him to embrace the villain role, or the spoiler, or some role that is tied to his arrival on the scene after Federer and Nadal, in other words this ‘third wheel’,” Mitric says.
Djokovic has been called names, blamed for gamesmanship. Djokobitch is one, ‘fake’ another. Djokovic does take long dodgy injury breaks during the matches he would trail but he doesn’t quite break rules. He just stretches them to the limit.
Having to pursue his passion while dodging poverty and war can leave one scarred. Djokovic has often spoken about his father taking high-interest loans to sustain his career. There is one frame from those days of struggle that’s etched in his mind. It’s of a knife pressing against his father’s neck, an unsavoury outcome resulting from a repayment default.
Both he and his father have caused furore for making statements that aren’t perceived as politically right in the world that’s far away from their home. Djokovic Sr has been captured in a frame with tennis fans supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and Nole once gave a three-finger victory salute that Serb soldiers exchanged when they fought Croatia.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts during his fourth round match against Hulger Rune of Denmark at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London. (AP)
The well-researched Djokovic biography by writer and broadcaster Chris Bowers paints a detailed picture of Serbia and the importance of nationalism in the war-torn region. It gives an idea about the two different worlds that the tennis superstar keeps toggling between. Once in a while the scripts get mixed up. “He’s totally comfortable in his own country, even though he acts with a slightly different register – he’s a bit more jingoistic, happy to join in with Serbian songs and cultural rituals, even a bit of blatant nationalism,” writes Bowers.
Djokovic isn’t just another rags-to-riches story of a boy from a war-torn land. Writer Mitric shares a line she had heard from noted writer Brian Phillips during her research of the Anglo-American coverage of Djokovic. “Novak presents to the tennis fans as well as tennis writers with a complexity and complicatedness that people don’t necessarily come to tennis for.”
That’s why however hard they try, the world can’t break him and as Djokovic said “you guys can’t touch me”.
