Novak Djokovic has explained his outburst about a heckler during his straight sets quarter-final victory against Andrey Rublev
Early in the match, Djokovic complained to the chair umpire about a lack of action.
“Every single point … Every single point you’re not reacting. Ten times already,” he said.
After the match, Djokovic said he draws the line when the heckles go beyond support for his opponent, but conceded there’s little he can do.
“If somebody … starts making comments that are not related to support of the other player, he just wants to provoke and insult, then stepping over the line is something that I react to,” he told reporters.
“Maybe not the first time, second time, but after that yes. Then I asked the chair umpire to react.
“After that, I heard him, but he was supporting Rublev. He was not making any bad comments till the end of the match, so I didn’t have any complaints about that further on.”
Speaking on Stan Sports’ Grand Slam Daily, Aussie great Wally Masur described the early heckles as “prickly”, but that it didn’t affect the nine-time champion’s game.
“It would have appeared to anybody watching … Novak wasn’t quite comfortable,” he said.
“He’s respectful – he’s lost to Rublev before – but he’s a little bit antsy.
“There’s a section of the crowd where a couple of blokes were saying ‘send him home, Andrey’ and they we’re just saying it pretty much after every point.
“I think it was like water dripping on his head – finally he snapped and he sort of made a comment to the umpire but it didn’t affect his game.”
“If they’re saying it in between points, and they’re not swearing or abusing and there’s not much [umpires] can do.
“Obviously if they’re talking and distracting him as he’s tossing the ball up in the serve, yes.”
