During the semifinals against Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic faced a challenging encounter with the crowd at Wimbledon 2023 in the third set. A fan’s verbal interruption while Djokovic was 15-40 down and about to serve a second caused a brief distraction, but it gained more attention because of the rude reaction he displayed.
Djokovic has already had several encounters with the fans, this one not being an exception. Tempers flared, making him pause momentarily and sarcastically applaud the fan for their words. However, he managed to successfully nullify the set points awarded to Sinner before sealing his win in straight sets in the tiebreak.
In response to the crowd’s disapproval of his reaction, Djokovic raised his hands to his eyes, mimicking a crying gesture. The boos from the audience echoed through the stadium, reflecting the divided opinions surrounding Djokovic’s actions. Despite being focused on Carlos Alcaraz as his next opponent, he may know he probably won’t be the favorite of the audience.
The Reason Behind Novak Djokovic’s Intense Encounter with the Crowd at Wimbledon 2023
Djokovic has a remarkable tennis performance that leads to records being broken all the time. However, he is no stranger from controversy with fans disapproving him. This time his reaction was reportedly in reference to an old opponent.
His gesture seemed to be too much considering he wasn’t insulted. ‘Vamos Rafa!’, was what the fan yelled according to the Daily Mail with Rafael Nadal as the obvious player mentioned. The two legends met each other an impressive 59 times, with Djokovic leading the series 30-29.
