It has been 26 days since Novak Djokovic stepped into the court for the last time. The Serb has been keeping himself out of the events for extensive periods to spend time with his family and clear his head. While he’s finally back to unleash his dominance in Rome, the tennis channel probably wasn’t satisfied as they gave him a controversial welcome.

Recently, Djokovic stepped into the arena where countless fans would be witnessing the Italian Open action. As the Serb took some time to meet and greet his excited admirers, the security failed to stop them from surrounding their favorite tennis star. Capturing a glimpse of the whole welcome scene, the Tennis Channel’s official X handle recently posted a video, but with a caption that said, “Security guard in the mud.”

While the title targeted the security guard who failed to stop the passionate fans, followers didn’t like how the media channel presented it. A fan despised the title used by the Tennis Channel. Analyzing the loud cheers echoing in the video, he wrote, “All I could hear was kids calling Nole Nole.. You don’t want to mention how popular he is in Rome?”

“If u dislike him @TennisChannel don’t post about him,” wrote another fan, urging the Tennis Channel to stop posting disrespecting titles for Novak Djokovic.

Another fan highlighted some media channels have been negatively portraying the Serb’s image. “Shill media brainwashing mass for 2 decades. Managed to portray negatively Novak great interaction with everyone coming to see him in to feeling pity for security doing their job,” he wrote, reflecting on the incident.

“Boycott tennis channel. Fu*k u tennis channel,” a fan exclaimed, urging the viewers to stop letting the Tennis Channel own immense authority.

“What r u talking about?” a fan inquired, puzzled with the way Tennis Channel presented Nole’s image.

With these and several other comments falling in the same line, the fans joined hands to defend their favorite tennis star’s image. Even though he tested the fans’ patience to be back on the court, it seems like he has the levels of support from the Italian crowd.

Novak Djokovic enters the Italian Open with high hopes

Besides the media’s criticizing approach, Novak Djokovic appears to be unbothered as he looks forward to hitting it hard in the ongoing event. Recently, the tennis star opened up about his plans for the remaining clay court tournaments.

“It was not part of the schedule. The plan was to come here. That’s basically it,” Djokovic said, announcing why he could not be a part of the event in Madrid. Along with that, he also stated his goals for the upcoming events, mentioning that he has all his focus on the Olympics and Roland Garros.

“I’m on a good route to peak at Roland Garros in Paris,” he added. As the Serb announced his plans for the season, it still remains to be seen if he will be able to end the title drought that he has been experiencing throughout the season.