Novak Djokovic’s feisty exchange with the Wimbledon crowd during his match against Holger Rune on Monday night has become a big talking point during the Championship and former World No. 1 John McEnroe has sided with the legendary Serbian in the current spat.
McEnroe has played Djokovic’s character over the course of his career as tennis big villain who had regular altercation with fans and their favorites.
So the 7-time Grand Slam champion is perfectly positioned to give his verdict on Djokovic’s cold behavior with Wimbledon Center Court crowd after he thought they were booing him in his R16 clash.
The crowd were actually rallying behind their favorite player in that case Rune and chanting his name ‘Runuunnnneeeee”, which Djokovic perceived were boos served to him.
While McEnroe accepts Djokovic got it wrong this time round as he misperceived that crowd was intentionally directing boos towards him, the American told the BBC that hostile SW19 crowds had a history with 7-time Wimbledon Champion and the latter over the years has strived hard but failed to earn their respect and love.
Djokovic has always remained bad with befriending the crowds like his greatest rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal McEnroe believes his decision to take on the Wimbledon fans stemmed from years of frustration.
“He has been battling this for his whole career,” declared McEnroe. “Yes, he feeds off negative energy and yes I did feed off that at times, but I hated it in a way.
“Do you want people yelling against you, hoping you’ll lose, just because you’re so good they start pulling for the other guy for no reason other than you’re so good?
“He is like the Darth Vader, but why? What has he done that is so bad?
“Okay, they are two of the greatest class acts we have seen in tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who can compare to them in terms of what they have brought to the table and the way that people love them? Nobody. Then this guy Djokovic has the nerve to come in and break into the party.
“It’s like ‘how about respecting me in all this?’ Here’s a guy that had surgery a month ago, the odds are that 10 per cent that he wouldn’t play this tournament.
“He is thinking ‘I’m helping this tournament’, which he is, why don’t I get some love when I am playing a guy who is 15 in the world and hasn’t done a damn thing compared to him?
“So yes there were maybe a handful of Danish people going ‘Rune’ and I get that people want to see a good match, but you have to respect the greatness that you see. It’s easy to be the backseat driver now and let it go and (say) they weren’t doing that, but that’s what he has been dealing with for 10, 15, 20 years.”
McEnroe hailed Djokovic for standing up to the negativity directed towards him, as he suggested tennis fans across the globe need to show the most successful male tennis player of all-time more respect.
“I admire the guts that he had to say it there, that takes something because that’s in a way going to put more people against him,” he added. “He doesn’t deserve that at this stage, we need him and he has been too great for our game.
“How about we say they have gone too far the other way? Is it possible that maybe the fans in there have disrespected him?
“Don’t you think that there have been at least 100 matches over the course of the last 10 or 15 years where Novak Djokovic has been disrespected because of how good he is?
“Why? What has he done that has been that bad? Name something. What is it, that he wants it? That he competes as hard as anyone has ever competed on a tennis court? I just don’t get why, is it the look or where he is from?”
McEnroe predicted that the former World No. 1 may have a tough time with the Center Court crowd once again when he returns to action for the remaining three matches at All England Club.