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Summary:
- Novak Djokovic had a tough second round against Aussie Alexei Popyrin
- Djokovic decided to confront a heckler and call him out, the heckler backed down
- Djokovic ended up winning in 4 sets and will move to the 3rd round
Novak Djokovic who is the world number 1 entered the 2024 Australian Open as the betting favourite as the Serb has been dominant at Melbourne Park for years.
Djokovic has the most number of Grand Slam wins in tennis history with 24 trophies and also has the most number of Australian Open Championships (10).
Heckler Goes After Djokovic Who Calls Him Out
Djokovic had a tough second round match as he faced Aussie Alexei Popyrin and had to go 4 sets to get the job done. The number one seed won the first set 6-3 and looked quite good but the 24-year-old from Sydney bounced back in the second set to win it 4-6. The Aussie crowd threw their support behind Popyrin while a few fans decided to go after Djokovic in an attempt to throw him off his game.
Aussie fans are known to go after their opponents whether it be in cricket, football, tennis or MMA. Djokovic who has loads of experience playing at the Australian Open and dealing with Aussie fans told the media that there was one corner of the court that was being extra loud and offensive with their comments.
One fan in particular decided to take things a little too far and said somethings which Djokovic said could not be repeated. He ended up getting too Djokovic who decided to confront the heckler and call him out.
In a post-match interview, Djokovic said
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.
When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down … 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 apologizing from far away. That’s all it is.
Djokovic Uses Comments To Motivate Himself
Novak Djokovic ended up using the negative barrage of comments to motivate him and raise his game. He went on to get better as the match progressed and won 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3. He now moves to the third round where he will now face Tomás Martín Etcheverry.
