Novak Djokovic was raging at the British supporters after they disrespected him and interrupted frequently during his match and also in the on-court interview afterward.
Team Serbia had already secured a 1-0 lead against the Britishers in the first set rallying behind the outstanding performance of Miomir Kecmanovic who defeated Jack Draper. The second match was a redemption round for GBR who faced a mammoth of a challenge from World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Britain’s Cameron Norrie was assigned the task of stopping Novak and Serbia. However, Novak didn’t let that happen and defeated him in straight sets. He cruised to a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win to seal the match for Serbia.
But Norrie wasn’t the only hurdle Novak had to jump through, he also encountered the taunts and distractions from the British audience. The heckling didn’t just stop after the end of the match as the disgruntled fans booed the Serbian during his on-court interview as well.
Novak got pretty frustrated by these actions and clapped back at them. First, he cupped his ear to provoke them after his win and even blew kisses in their direction. When interrupted during his interview, he scolded them for their behavior.
“Learn how to respect players, how to behave yourselves, learn how to respect people, you shut up, you be quiet,” he said.
After the match, in the post-match interview, Novak commented on the situation and told the reporters that he responded in the way he did because he felt disrespected and had to stand up for himself against them.
“It’s normal that fans step over the line and in the heat of the moment you react too and in a way show that you don’t allow this kind of behaviour.”
“They can do whatever they want, but I’m going to respond to that.”
He further added to those comments by speaking out about his struggles while delivering the post-match speech.
“I was trying to talk, and they purposely started to play the drums, to not let me talk, They were trying to annoy me the entire match, so we had a little bit of a chat in the end.”
Serbia crashes out of the Davis Cup, Jannik Sinner ends Novak Djokovic’s 21-game winning streak.
Serbia and Novak Djokovic’s bid to claim a Davis Cup Final berth came to a crashing end when Jannik Sinner and the Italian team defeated them in the Semis.
Jannik Sinner led the Italian team by defeating the World No. 1 twice in the match to seal a victory over the Serbians. He came back from a 5-4 deficit to beat Novak in three sets. The final score of the encounter was 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in favor of Sinner. He, then, partnered with teammate Lorenzo Sonego to beat the Serbian again in the Doubles bout.
The loss was especially haunting for the World No.1 who had two opportunities for his country but couldn’t redeem them. In the post-match set with the media, he said:
“Personally, it’s a huge disappointment because I take the responsibility, obviously having three match balls, being so close to winning it.”
“When you lose for your country, the bitter feeling is even greater.”
