It was a long match and the French tennis player did not want to give his skin cheaply. He continued in the match even after he sprained his ankle during the first set at 1:3, which required long treatment. In the second set, on the other hand, his opponent, who was already struggling with a hamstring injury before the tournament, requested a medical time-out.
Although Djokovic lost the second set in a tie-break, he did not give his opponent many chances after that. He even gave him the canary in the fourth set. During this set, however, the Serbian tennis player ran out of patience with one of the fans, who repeatedly shouted at his serve.
“The guy’s ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????… he’s not here to watch tennis!”
A furious Novak Djokovic pleads with the umpire to remove a loud spectator from the audience ????#AusOpen | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/IiASc4pyEj
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 19, 2023
“Can we get this guy out?” Djokovic asked the umpire, pointing to one of the four spectators dressed in the style of the main character from the popular cartoon series Hledá se Valda. “Are you kidding me? This guy is drunk to the point of silence, from the first point he’s just provoking. He didn’t come to watch tennis, he just wants to get into my head,” he complained. Eurosport commentators also agreed with him. “He’s right, he’s been doing it all evening. It’s not funny anymore,” they said.
However, the umpire remained adamant for a long time. “You’ve heard him at least ten times, I’ve heard him about fifty times, so what are you going to do about it?” Djokovic demanded that the unruly fan be taken out of the audience, which he finally did. quiet.
After the match, it might have seemed that he had only reasons to be satisfied, but the opposite was true. In the interview, he admitted that his muscle injury, which caused him to miss several training matches before the tournament, is serious.
“To be honest, it’s not good at all. I’m taking it day by day, last match was better than today,” said the 21-time Grand Slam champion. “Now it’s up to God and my physio to help me. I hope I can recover and prepare for another tough match ,” added Djokovic, who should face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Friday night.
