Nick Kyrgios showed his support for Novak Djokovic’s tussle with the hecklers and suggested that he was ready to fight them if Djokovic needed help.
Novak Djokovic was up against Australian Alexei Popyrin in the second round of the Australian Open. The Serbian was projected to get a comfortable win in the tie, however, that wasn’t the case. Popyrin came back from a set behind to take the second one and was in a neck-to-neck battle with the World No. 1 in the third and fourth sets.
The fourth set was in the balance at 2-2 when the Australian crowd, who were already pretty vocal on the day started to call out names on the Serbian. One heckler specifically said something that caught the Serbian’s attention. Novak stopped and glared back at the person making those comments in the stands.
A furious Novak confronted that man and called him out to say those same things to his face and not behind his back. Novak could be heard saying :
“Come and say that in my face!”
The incident fizzled down after that, but it gave the World No. 1 an added motivation to give his all during that match. Novak seemed to be locked in and only lost one point after that. He dominated the match from that point on and won the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Australian tennis player, Nick Kyrgios had the perfect expression to describe this moment.
“DONT POKE THE BEAR GUYS”, Nick Kyrgios tweeted on a Novak’s game clip.
DONT POKE THE BEAR GUYS https://t.co/yc7qDQOnz5
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 17, 2024
In the post-match interview with Eurosport, Novak was assured by player-turned-commentator Nick Kyrgios that he would be ready to jump in the crowd if the Serbian wanted him to.
“If you want me to jump into the crowd and sort him out, I’ll do it for you bro. I got your back 100%.”
Nick Kyrgios tells Novak Djokovic he would’ve dealt with the heckler for him:
— Danny 🐊 (@DjokovicFan_) January 17, 2024
“If you want me to jump into the crowd and sort him out, I’ll do it for you bro. I got your back 100%.” 😍@DjokerNole @NickKyrgios pic.twitter.com/mTyroOBpxT
“Tough guy, come down and tell it to my face,” Novak Djokovic describes the heckling event in the post-match presser
Novak Djokovic addressed the heckling incident in his post-match press conference and gave an outline of the incident with that spectator.
When asked by a media member to describe what exactly was being said by the heckler, Novak denied answering it but mentioned that he was already taking in a lot from the crowd before that point. He said that he confronted the heckler because the comments had crossed the tipping point for his patience and tolerance.
“I mean, you don’t want to know. There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court … I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had enough, and I asked him whether he wants to come down and tell it to my face.”
The World No. 1 mocked the heckler for having no courage to say the same things to him directly on his face.
“When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down. That’s what I was asking him. If you have courage, if you’re such a tough man, tough guy, come down and tell it to my face, and let’s have a discussion about it.”
“He was apologising from far away. That’s all it is.”
