Astounding Decision by Novak Djokovic Leaves Australian Open Crowd Dismayed After Dominant Win

Bizarre scenes at the Rod Laver Arena! Novak Djokovic recently outclassed the Czech star, Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round of the 2025 AO. With this win, he has moved a few steps closer to achieving his dream of 11th AO title in his career, but wait a minute! Why did he run away shortly after finishing the match? Novak Djokovic, interestingly, didn’t want to make a longer stay during the post-match chat with Jim Courier. The moment he said bye and goodnight, the stadium was filled with jeers and boos. What is the fuss all about, though?

Well, renowned tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg recently came up with some tweets highlighting the incident by saying, “Weird denouement to that win for Djokovic, just saying a quick thank you and goodbye to the crowd, abjuring the crowdpleasing interview with Jim Courier.” In another tweet, he wrote, “ICYMI. Haven’t seen that before. And with the night session only having a low-wattage doubles match left, I bet #AusOpen were banking on it being a pretty long chat.“

What did Novak Djokovic say in his short speech, though? Well, after winning his match against Lehecka he just said, “Thank you very much for being here tonight I appreciate your presence and the support and I’ll see you in the next round. Thank you very much.” Was Novak Djokovic pretty annoyed with some people in the crowd, or was it something else?

If that was the case, then we shouldn’t be too surprised. Because just a few days ago, we saw what happened during his match against Tomas Machac. During that match, we saw a “drunk” heckler causing a few troubles. And later on, the Serb even addressed that guy from the crowd when he saw him yelling at him during his on-court interview.

He joked at him and said, “Sorry mate I’ve a wife. We can have a drink though, Maybe you’ve had a few already. Him and I were going back and forth for quite a while. Actually, I’m happy to have a drink with him now that the match is over. I think we can reflect nicely on what we said to each other during the match (laughs).” Was there something like this that caused a major annoyance for the 24-time Grand Slam champion?

Well, according to the latest news coming from Melbourne, it could possibly be for some other reason. What’s it? A few days ago, we saw Australian broadcaster Tony Jones facing a major backlash for his remarks on Novak Djokovic. Jones has been with Network Nine for over three decades, and during an instance, this experienced presenter was heard saying, “‘Novak, he’s overrated,’ ‘Novak’s a has-been,’ ‘Novak, kick him out.’ Boy, I’m glad they can’t hear me.“

Several experts and fans were stunned seeing him make those comments with a group of Serbian supporters waving their national flags in his background. Nick Kyrgios opened up first on that incident. What did he say, though?

Nick Kyrgios has taken a jibe at the Australian presenter for his bizarre comments on Novak Djokovic

After hearing Tony Jones’ comments, Nick Kyrgios took to X to show his support for his close friend and hit back at the renowned presenter. The Aussie tennis star tweeted, “Coming from this clown – couldn’t run around a park this bloke.” Jones’ alleged disrespect towards Novak Djokovic fans triggered massive outrage on social media. Since Jim Courier also works for the same channel, it could be one of the probable reasons behind his bold decision.

What did Courier say about this, though? Well, Courier later on confirmed, “He didn’t feel like having a chat with us, no idea it was going to happen, not an obligation for players to do it. A player can opt-out. I hope we got more color on it in press.” However, later on, we did see Novak Djokovic giving an interview with Eurosport. What did he say about the match and his victory in that interview?

This was Novak Djokovic‘s second meeting with Jiri Lehecka. The Czech star is yet to open his account against the 24-time Grand Slam champion. After securing his spot in the QF, Novak Djokovic shared his thoughts on the match. He said, “I felt great. A couple of hiccups here and there, a loose game [after] I broke his serve in the third. After that, I had chances to break him, but every time I had an opportunity to break him, he would serve big. Just very powerful and precise.“

Lehecka hit 11 aces against Djokovic and committed just 4 double faults! Further sharing his thoughts about his performance in this match in comparison to his previous one at the 2025 AO, he added, “Obviously a little bit of a different opponent compared to my last-round opponent, but there were quite a few similarities, with a flat backhand and quite an aggressive style. I think I handled the pressure moments well and played some great points towards the end.” Next up for Nole, is the current world number 3, Carlos Alcaraz! 

This will be their eighth meeting on the Tour and Djokovic currently has a 4-3 lead over the Spanish in the H2H record. Can he extend that lead further with a win against Carlitos in the QF of the 2025 AO?