“Probably, he is the clear favorite,” said Rafael Nadal, before the much-awaited clash against Novak Djokovic. However, that favoritism didn’t stay with the Serbian ace for long. As the R2 match ended against the 14-time Roland Garros champion, so did his support in Paris. And since then, Djokovic has been on the receiving end of the unfriendly comments. What has he done to attract so much unwarranted dislike from the tennis fans? A gesture after his dominant win against Nadal. Djokovic now explains the reason behind the gesture, and it wasn’t to disrespect his rival.

It was a beautiful match when looked at from Djokovic’s stand, but a heart-wrenching tale for his Spanish legend’s, highlighting the approaching end. While everyone would have anticipated a powerful clash to mark their 60th encounter, hoping that Nadal would draw some more power from his reserves, it all ended sooner than ever, with Djokovic overpowering the King of Clay on his favored turf. What more was left to be said? For spectators and Nadal, maybe nothing. But for Djokovic, there was one more return to be answered, and this time to the fans in the stands.

Djokovic answered it with a finger on his ear as he turned to the crowd. While this was taken as an insult, which was deemed as if he was poking an insult at Nadal. However, he was misunderstood, yet again. In an interview after his match, Djokovic took notice of tennis fans’ harsh reaction against him. He said, “People notice when I react, but they don’t see what happens until that moment.” Rightly so, fame certainly comes at a cost. At the moment, when Djokovic, “Called after the ace, that man was saying inappropriate things.” And after winning, Djokovic didn’t spare the haters, as he “him a nice kiss, he will dream about it tonight.”

However, in a sad state of affairs, what was supposed to be a sweet 60, turned out to be a sour 60! This wasn’t the only moment that was criticized for the widely publicized R2 match. The moment he gestured playing violin after his win also came under scrutiny of tennis fans. The violin is famous as a fond moment between a father and a daughter. However, in Paris, it wasn’t. Maybe the melancholy in the hearts of tennis fans failed to see anything beyond Nadal’s loss. Nonetheless, if the Serbian ace has haters, he certainly has lovers too!

Nick Kyrgios comes in Djokovic’s defense as he receives flak from Nadal fans

The 60th encounter, which could be the last one for the Djokovic-Nadal at the clay courts of Paris wasn’t supposed to turn salty. Their rivalry record, in the last 20 years had been somewhat even-steven with 29-30 in Djokovic’s favor. And it became 31-29 after this fateful match, where emotions ran high, as Nadal was unable to keep up with his relatively more fitter and stronger opponent.

Hence, when Nadal fans took it upon themselves to bash Serbian for his ‘absolutely appalling on the court behavior.’ The bromance established at the Wimbledon years ago with Nick Kyrgios came out in his defense. When fans questioned, “How someone could possibly support this piece of trash?” The Australian tennis player in a strong defense replied, “I do.”

Maybe in times of travesty, Novak Djokovic needed just this support which rallied his fan base to oppose the hate with love.