The electric atmosphere of a match, the cheers of support, the unruly booing—all of these create a dynamic relationship between tennis fans and the players. It’s often a roller coaster ride, with emotions running high, swinging from one extreme to another. This was vividly on display on Wednesday at Wimbledon when Novak Djokovic faced a sharp reaction from the crowd. And the twist? He wasn’t even playing!

The quarterfinals on Wednesday witnessed unexpected events, especially for the men. While Alex De Minaur decided to end his Wimbledon run following a hip injury and give a free pass to Novak Djokovic, Lorenzo Musetti handed a shocking defeat to American star Taylor Fritz at the All-England Club. While Musetti is yet to celebrate his victory and his first Grand Slam semi-final entry, his triumph seems to have taken over the centre stage for a brewing controversy.

The Italian sensation was seen expressing his joy over his win in the on-court interview. However, as soon as Novak Djokovic’s name was taken as his next opponent, the crowd seemed to turn boisterous as there were noticeable boos from the audience. This has sparked another debate within the tennis community with many supporting the crowd for what it did.

‘Enemy of the crowd…’ Novak Djokovic’s past reaction does not seem digestible to tennis fans

The booing episode was shared on his Twitter handle by tennis commentator and journalist, José Morgado, who captioned the post “Oh boy…” What followed next was a series of tweets from several fans who seemed to justify the action from the crowd. 

Taking to the microblogging platform X, one user wrote, “Good. What does he expect when he disrespects the crowd by pretending they booed him? 😂 🤡” Novak Djokovic’s ugly banter with the crowd began after his fourth-round clash against Holger Rune. 

After Djokovic defeated Holger Rune, he was upset with some perceived boos from those in attendance on Centre Court. To protest against the same, he grabbed the microphone and hit back at the crowd by telling them “goooooood night,” in a similar booing gesture. Interestingly, it appeared to be a mistake on Nole’s part who perceived cheer for Rune as boos at him. This had drawn some flak from the tennis community who perceived this as a disrespect to the crowd. Another user joined in the fray with similar sentiments.

Adding to the debate, the user wrote, “I mean if Djokovic is going to antagonize the crowd, he shouldn’t expect love and/or respect in return. Tennis fans have had decades to decide how they feel about Djokovic.  If they like him, their choice.  If they don’t, their choice.” Novak Djokovic has long faced flak from fans. 

Many in the tennis community believe that despite being a great tennis player, he has failed to gain enough affection. This is particularly attributed to his agitated acts on the court, of smashing racquets and shouting at the ball kids, among others. A similar reaction was shared by yet another X user, who wrote, “Good. He’s made an enemy of the crowd. What do people expect?” While the blame on Djokovic continued to pile up, some other tennis fans joined in to express their anticipation for the next match.

“Will be a spicy match for sure!” another user wrote. Musetti and Djokovic have faced each other six times with the Italian winning only once. Their latest encounter came at the French Open when the two played a five-setter match in which the Serb emerged victorious. Now with the crowd clearly booing at him, it will be interesting to see if he can keep his calm intact while facing Musetti in the semifinals.

Another user simply shared their thought and expressed that the howling of the crowd would stop if Djokovic stopped paying heed to it. “They’d probably stop if Novak stopped giving attention to it…” 

As the tournament enters into the crucial semi-final stage, it will be interesting to see if Djokovic can win back the crowd’s affection and lift his 25th title.