Djokovic: I play against the stadium 90 percent of the time, everyone can see that

J

JustMy2Cents

Hall of Fame
https://twitter.com/x/status/1411238395242856448
Djokovic explains his outburst.
On Friday after the 19-time major champion battled past Denis Kudla in straight sets he talked about what it’s like to be in his shoes.
“Look, to be honest, it is not something that the people do not see. It is a fact that I play 90 percent of my matches, if not even more than that, against the opponent, but against the stadium as well“, Djokovic said with a smile while speaking to Serbian press.

Certainly Djokovic has legions of fans, and the NoleFam is always in his heart as he travels the world in the hunt for Grand Slam titles, but when he plays on the world’s legendary show courts, the support isn’t always there.

“Places where I get more support than my opponent are rare,” he said. “It is something that I am used to, but on the other hand, I am a human being with emotions, so it is normal that sometimes it gets to me and annoys me when someone provokes me. There were a few people, but I do not want to get into details. My reactions were explosive, perhaps more explosive than they should be, but I had to get it out of my system and put them in their place.”

Previously, in the English part of the press conference, Djokovic was asked if he felt that he did not get enough respect from the crowd.

“Look, you know, in the heat of battle, these things happen,” he said. “You release the emotions, the stress, the pressure that you feel on the court. Yeah, sometimes you are maybe looking for a little bit of support or sometimes you just want to let it go. That is what happened to me.


www.tennismajors.com

Djokovic: I play against the stadium 90 percent of the time, everyone can see that

Wolves are supposed to hunt in packs, but this week at Wimbledon lone wolf Novak Djokovic is showing his teeth on Centre Court.
www.tennismajors.com www.tennismajors.com
 
His fans here have been asserting he gets adequate crowd support these days but the man himself feels otherwise.
Must be tough facing hostility over and over!

If he can tone down his angry reaction, may be things can change?
As of now his angry expletive after R3 is becoming viral.... and not to his favor.
 
I get it must be difficult. But I think he's not alone. Many No.1s have had the crowd against them. The crowd want the upset. Maybe he does get it bad more than others did, but that's part of the social media age and greater accessibility which fans have to the players. For example, Djokovic's emotional releases go viral and some people won't like them. At the same, though, because of this greater accessibility, the guys at the top get a a lot more money and more fame. So, you got to take the good with the bad here. Of course, if Nole chooses to handle it with shouting crude stuff back at the crowd, that's on him, but it probably won't help matters.
 
JustMy2Cents said:
His fans here have been asserting he gets adequate crowd support these days but the man himself feels otherwise.
Must be tough facing hostility over and over!

If he can tone down his angry reaction, may be things can change?
As of now his angry expletive after R3 is becoming viral.... and not to his favor.
Click to expand...

Djokovic does get plenty of support these days, he is talking about the course over his career, primarily because he was the one to disrupt the Fedal party.
 
Devtennis01 said:
I get it must be difficult. But I think he's not alone. Many No.1s have had the crowd against them. The crowd want the upset.
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Really? I don’t think so, at least not in general. I mean, many spectators are there for more than just a day, and they want to see the great names again. They may prefer a close match over a blowout, but for many in the end the legend should prevail. The only difference would be if someone is a hardcore fan of a Big 3 player and roots for the other 2 to lose early.
 
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Devtennis01 said:
I get it must be difficult. But I think he's not alone. Many No.1s have had the crowd against them. The crowd want the upset. Maybe he does get it bad more than others did, but that's part of the social media age and greater accessibility which fans have to the players. For example, Djokovic's emotional releases go viral and some people won't like them. At the same, though, because of this greater accessibility, the guys at the top get a a lot more money and more fame. So, you got to take the good with the bad here. Of course, if Nole chooses to handle it with shouting crude stuff back at the crowd, that's on him, but it probably won't help matters.
Click to expand...
Its how you react to the crowd that makes the difference. Federer and Nadal have experienced this too. I think Federer will expect it today against Norrie. Nadal faced Kyrgios in Aus. They all came out in good spirits. Both of them will say I understand the crowd wants the underdog to win we just have to deal with it. Unfortunately in Djokovic's insecure world, he is being targeted on purpose. Sad to see yesterday's actions. That's not how a world no.1 and a 34 year old insanely rich man behaves.
 
ChrisRF said:
Really? I don’t think so, at least not in general. I mean, many spectators are there for more than just a day, and they want to see the great names again. They may prefer a close match over a blowout, but for many in the end the legend should prevail. The only difference would be if someone is a hardcore fan of a Big 3 player and roots for the other 2 to lose early.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think so. But I could just be coming from my perspective. But I've heard many commentators I know say the crowd wants the underdog to win. I think the only legends the crowd really root for is those on their last legs. Also, I think in tennis crowds, not everyone is into the Big 3 thing like they are on social media.
 
Forehanderer said:
Its how you react to the crowd that makes the difference. Federer and Nadal have experienced this too. I think Federer will expect it today against Norrie. Nadal faced Kyrgios in Aus. They all came out in good spirits. Both of them will say I understand the crowd wants the underdog to win we just have to deal with it. Unfortunately in Djokovic's insecure world, he is being targeted on purpose. Sad to see yesterday's actions. That's not a world no.1 and a 34 year old insanely rich man behaves.
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It's puzzling how Djokovic acts. I would think he would have had amazing therapy by now.
 
Forehanderer said:
If you think Wimbledon has hooligans in the crowd, then I have a real estate in Mars that I'm interested in selling it to you. If real football hooligans come to jeer Novak, he will go home crying.
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Here we go again. :) I wouldn't term them hooligans, perhaps. But you and I had a lengthy exchange on another thread where you kept denying that the Wimby 2019 final crowd had behaved in a boorish manner - and I sent you news article after news article, which had all clearly remarked on poor crowd behaviour. :) Wimbledon does have some malcontents in the hallowed grounds, too!!

The crowd as a whole may be ok. But claiming than there are no elements of the crowd which were jeering and being disruptive is untrue. You can see the umpire repeatedly calling for the crowd to be quiet before several points yesterday, because sections were shouting out barbs while the players were already ready to play the point.
 
Forehanderer said:
Its how you react to the crowd that makes the difference. Federer and Nadal have experienced this too. I think Federer will expect it today against Norrie. Nadal faced Kyrgios in Aus. They all came out in good spirits. Both of them will say I understand the crowd wants the underdog to win we just have to deal with it. Unfortunately in Djokovic's insecure world, he is being targeted on purpose. Sad to see yesterday's actions. That's not how a world no.1 and a 34 year old insanely rich man behaves.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's a fair or true statement to claim that Fedal - especially Federer - have faced anywhere near the kind of barbed hostility that Novak faces. There is a difference between having the crowd being more in your opponents corner, and a crowd actively jeering and throwing barbs at you. Federer might have experienced the former on very very rare occasions. Novak deals with the latter a lot.
 
Hitman said:
He's his own man, he's been dealing it for a lot longer.

Go watch USO 2015 final and W 2019 final to see how Novak dealt with everyone wanting his blood.
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With all that vast experience, he still has a short fuse! Can't he just ignore and laugh it off like Rafa did
 
Jai said:
Here we go again. :) I wouldn't term them hooligans, perhaps. But you and I had a lengthy exchange on another thread where you kept denying that the Wimby 2019 final crowd had behaved in a boorish manner - and I sent you news article after news article, which had all clearly remarked on poor crowd behaviour. :) Wimbledon does have some malcontents in the hallowed grounds, too!!

The crowd as a whole may be ok. But claiming than there are no elements of the crowd which were jeering and being disruptive is untrue. You can see the umpire repeatedly calling for the crowd to be quiet before several points yesterday, because sections were shouting out barbs while the players were already ready to play the point.
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You remembered eh? You seem to not remember that Novak smashed the umpire's chair to smithereens on that day. Something similar he did in USO 2020 that got him a DQ :whistle:
 
Forehanderer said:
You remembered eh? You seem to not remember that Novak smashed the umpire's chair to smithereens on that day. Something similar he did in USO 2020 that got him a DQ :whistle:
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Yes, I also remember well that you incorrectly claimed a) that the crowd started jeering and misbehaving only after that, and b) that Novak got away with hitting the bottom of the chair without any warning. :)

I also remember that I sent you news articles clearly proving both of your statements were untrue, but then it didn't stop you from repeating those falsehoods :) you don't let facts get in the way of your assertions, you see.
 
Jai said:
I don't think it's a fair or true statement to claim that Fedal - especially Federer - have faced anywhere near the kind of barbed hostility that Novak faces. There is a difference between having the crowd being more in your opponents corner, and a crowd actively jeering and throwing barbs at you. Federer might have experienced the former on very very rare occasions. Novak deals with the latter a lot.
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How long have you been following tennis. Federer was booed when he was smashing racquets. Imagine him facing Agassi and Roddick in USO
 
Forehanderer said:
How long have you been following tennis. Federer was booed when he was smashing racquets. Imagine him facing Agassi and Roddick in USO
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I've been following tennis since the late 80s. Graf and Edberg were my favourites then. I know you like to pretend anyone who roots for Novak started watching the game after 2011, but that again, like a lot of your narratives, isn't really true :-)
 
Jai said:
Yes, I also remember well that you incorrectly claimed a) that the crowd started jeering and misbehaving only after that, and b) that Novak got away with hitting the bottom of the chair without any warning. :)

I also remember that I sent you news articles clearly proving both of your statements were untrue, but then it didn't stop you from repeating those falsehoods :) you don't let facts get in the way of your assertions, you see.
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Ok einstein. I didn't remember whether Novak got or didn't get a warning. But hitting the umpire's chair is bad. no? Do you think that's normal for a 32 year old man to act that way
 
Hitman said:
Nah, you've done this a few times, dishing out the dirt on Novak. It's heartburn alright.
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I hardly get involved in exchanges here, so I'm surprised at this comment. Confusing me with someone else?
Anyway, I just post quotes straight from the player, How's that controversial?

Supporting dirty expletives seems controversial to me!
 
I do feel for Djokovic sometimes with the crowd being against him but it's hard to turn peoples opinion around when you've got a history of doing stupid and dumb things that don't win favour with the crowds. Remember how you turned practically the entire US fanbase against you with Roddick? How about the ridiculousness with Pepe Imaz? What about that time you wanted to have a tournament in the middle of the pandemic? These things matter when it comes to support.

However with all that said it is still really unfair that Djokovic doesn't really do anything wrong on court yet gets hated and other players such as Kyrgios do it and get praised. Something is really wrong there and i don't support it and wish he got more support in that regard. However at the end of the day, he's probably going to go down as the best tennis player in history so he'll always have that.
 
Hitman said:
You are expecting everyone to be the same person, Novak is not Rafa, and vice versa. It was clear some nasty things were said that even the umpire stopped the match. You can only take so much.
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Just pointing out another guy handled a similar situation differently. And yes of course, not every one has the same equanimity.
Rafa was serving for the 2nd set with just one break. He could have become hot and bothered and lost the serve but handled with humor and class!
 
Forehanderer said:
Ok einstein. I didn't remember whether Novak got or didn't get a warning. But hitting the umpire's chair is bad. no? Do you think that's normal for a 32 year old man to act that way
Click to expand...
:) the issue with you is, you make a sweeping statement that the crowd is well behaved, no issues at all. When confronted with proof they aren't, you start spinning in all sorts of directions. See here, you have again stated "smashed the umpires chair to smithereens" :-D, when yes, he hit the bottom of the steps of the high chair the umpire was sitting on, and was duly assessed a code violation for it. There was no breakage or crack or smithereens whatsoever :)

That gesture in that match, he was deservedly assessed a code violation. How does that make the crowd behaviour good and acceptable? You like to see everything in your narrative, per you there is no provocation, crowd is all kosher and genteel and these outbursts happen out of the blue. This is plain untrue.
 
The fact that Djokovic won 19 Slams and the only one in the Open Era to win a double career Slam all while playing against the crowd the majority of the time, makes his achievements even more outstanding and more impressive than either Federer or Nadal's. Most players would crumble in those circumstances. And it's done on purpose because they all know he will most likely end up on top and don't want him passing Fedal. For the ones in here criticizing and wondering why, well you can't expect for them to do this every match and expect for him to be on his best behavior like W 2019 and USO 2015, and others. They need to learn to show a little more respect.
 
correct me if i am wrong,

it is my understanding that CEO of ATP / WTA are hired from outside with no back ground of tennis

why do not ATP / WTA hire former tennis players instead for CEO and other important designations
 
There is also another aspect. The crowd likes to see interesting matches. Therefore, some people would start supporting a losing player just to get yourself a more exciting experience
 
JustMy2Cents said:
Just pointing out another guy handled a similar situation differently. And yes of course, not every one has the same equanimity
Click to expand...

The other guy's situation was a one time thing, it was dealt with immediately.

With what happened against Djokovic, it wasn't a one time thing, the idiots in the crowd had been trying to hinder him since the first set, and they kept at it. Novak first didn't do anything, it was just a brief looking in their direction, but their increased persistence to make him lose his concentration was naturally going to annoy him as the match went on. Had they stopped, or the situation was dealt with there and then, Novak would have just continued on....it took until the umpire finally stepping in much later after even she had had enough that it stopped, because they knew they risked getting ejected.

Instead of complaining about Novak, why don't you focus on why it wasn't dealt with by the umpire earlier. There is only so much a person can take before it stands to impact their concentration and performance. You think Rafa would have been happy to keep playing if that woman was allowed to stay and continue sticking the finger or hurling foul language in his direction? I think not.
 
JustMy2Cents said:
Just pointing out another guy handled a similar situation differently. And yes of course, not every one has the same equanimity.
Rafa was serving for the 2nd set with just one break. He could have become hot and bothered and lost the serve but handled with humor and class!
Click to expand...
The heckler was ejected in that case, easier to laugh something off when the person sledging you is being removed from the stands, no?
 
Jai said:
:) the issue with you is, you make a sweeping statement that the crowd is well behaved, no issues at all. When confronted with proof they aren't, you start spinning in all sorts of directions. See here, you have again stated "smashed the umpires chair to smithereens" :-D, when yes, he hit the bottom of the steps of the high chair the umpire was sitting on, and was duly assessed a code violation for it. There was no breakage or crack or smithereens whatsoever :)

That gesture in that match, he was deservedly assessed a code violation. How does that make the crowd behaviour good and acceptable? You like to see everything in your narrative, per you there is no provocation, crowd is all kosher and genteel and these outbursts happen out of the blue. This is plain untrue.
Click to expand...
Just answer my question. Is is a normal behavior of a 32 year old man. no need to take it on a tangent we have already been before. is that a good look.
Jai said:
Thanks for your condescension. Obviously you feel the pressing urge to appear more mature, intelligent and sophisticated than you really are. It's fine, keep up your patronising tone, good to know your style is to try and get a rise out of someone. Very mature from your side. :-D
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Look I'm not being condescending ok. Someone who has watched from the 80s would know this behavior is unacceptable. Obviously you haven't and are lying to make your story stick. I'm not buying it
 
Hitman said:
The other guy's situation was a one time thing, it was dealt with immediately.

With what happened against Djokovic, it wasn't a one time thing, the idiots in the crowd had been trying to hinder him since the first set, and they kept at it. Novak first didn't do anything, it was just a brief looking in their direction, but their increased persistence to make him lose his concentration was naturally going to annoy him as the match went on. Had they stopped, or the situation was dealt with there and then, Novak would have just continued on....it took until the umpire finally stepping in much later after even she had had enough that it stopped, because they knew they risked getting ejected.

Instead of complaining about Novak, why don't you focus on why it wasn't dealt with by the umpire earlier. There is only so much a person can take before it stands to impact their concentration and performance. You think Rafa would have been happy to keep playing if that woman was allowed to stay and continue sticking the finger or hurling foul language in his direction? I think not.
Click to expand...

And another thing is why did she wait until late in the 3rd set to say anything? Clearly if he hears it she is hearing it as well. The same umpire gave Djokovic a time violation at RG and never gave Nadal one although he was taking more time on average.
 
Hitman said:
The other guy's situation was a one time thing, it was dealt with immediately.

With what happened against Djokovic, it wasn't a one time thing, the idiots in the crowd had been trying to hinder him since the first set, and they kept at it. Novak first didn't do anything, it was just a brief looking in their direction, but their increased persistence to make him lose his concentration was naturally going to annoy him as the match went on. Had they stopped, or the situation was dealt with there and then, Novak would have just continued on....it took until the umpire finally stepping in much later after even she had had enough that it stopped, because they knew they risked getting ejected.

Instead of complaining about Novak, why don't you focus on why it wasn't dealt with by the umpire earlier. There is only so much a person can take before it stands to impact their concentration and performance. You think Rafa would have been happy to keep playing if that woman was allowed to stay and continue sticking the finger or hurling foul language in his direction? I think not.
Click to expand...
It's simple. The flow goes a bit likes this. Sections in the crowd will boo, cat call, jeer and insult. They will deliberately do this, to try and get under the skin of the player. And later, once the player wins, he makes a gesture of "I'll show you'', it apparently becomes this massively unprovoked, crude gesture. OK, he ideally shouldn't have used that expletive. But is anyone holding those malcontents in the crowd to account?
 
NoleFam said:
And another thing is why did she wait until late in the 3rd set to say anything? Clearly if he hears it she is hearing it as well. The same umpire gave Djokovic a time violation at RG and never gave Nadal one although he was taking more time on average.
Click to expand...

Of course she was hearing it, he was futher away in the middle of the court when they were hurling that abuse at him, she was closer to them. Happened once, OK, let it go, happened twice, start making notes to make sure it doesn't happen again, happens a third time, your job as an umpire is now to step in and take action. Funny how when she did, it all stopped.

Novak had no issues with the people cheering his opponent, it was that specific small group that were trying to get to him with their shout outs, and when it gets to the point where it is impacting the match, it needs to be stopped.
 
Hitman said:
Of course she was hearing it, he was futher away in the middle of the court when they were hurling that abuse at him, she was closer to them. Happened once, OK, let it go, happened twice, start making notes to make sure it doesn't happen again, happens a third time, your job as an umpire is now to step in and take action. Funny how when she did, it all stopped.

Novak had no issues with the people cheering his opponent, it was that specific small group that were trying to get to him with their shout outs, and when it gets to the point where it is impacting the match, it needs to be stopped.
Click to expand...

Yea I feel she should have said something a lot earlier. Clearly it was a distraction when they were doing it in the middle of the point.
 
Forehanderer said:
Just answer my question. Is is a normal behavior of a 32 year old man. no need to take it on a tangent we have already been before. is that a good look.

Look I'm not being condescending ok. Someone who has watched from the 80s would know this behavior is unacceptable. Obviously you haven't and are lying to make your story stick. I'm not buying it
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The last thing I need to do, is to waste my time trying to convince you of my age and when I started watching tennis. It's no secret from my posts about when I started following the game, so I'm not going to get into this crapfest with you which is plainly designed to be provocative.

If you want to discuss politely, we can. But I've found from our interaction in the previous thread too, that you make a whole lot of patronising remarks which don't sit well with me. You hold your opinion, I have mine. Stating that Wimbledon crowds are polished and genteel and never sledge is untrue - some sections definitely jeer and throw barbs.

As to your demand to answer questions you set, it is funny because when you make false statements and I prove them to be untrue, you never even accept that your statements were not founded on fact. But then you try to claim again that I should further answer some other questions you throw. Doesn't work that way.
 
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