Novak Djokovic – “The Crowd is Chanting ‘Roger’ I Hear ‘Novak’”

Wimbledon Championships 2019 gentlemen’s final required more of mental strength and physical efforts, that’s how the Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic summarises his battle against the eight-time grass-court major champion, Roger Federer.

Today, the Centre Court was brimmed with almost 14, 000 tennis followers and most of them were Roger Federer fans. The holy court of tennis, resonated with ‘Come On Roger!’ cheers and World Number one tennis player talked about his course of action against those clamours. 

“At times you just try to ignore it, which is quite hard,’ Djokovic said. ‘I like to transmutate it in a way: When the crowd is chanting ‘Roger’ I hear ‘Novak’. It sounds silly, but it is like that. I try to convince myself that it’s like that,” Novak Djokovic shared.

He admits that it is difficult to play a match in the presence of a stimulated audience which is in the favour of the other person, and in order to overcome such situations, Novak Djokovic engages in the mental training for unhearing such gestures.   

“I mean, it’s hard to not be aware. You have that kind of electric atmosphere, that kind of noise, especially in some decisive moments where we’re quite even. It’s one way or another. The crowd gets into it. ‘Of course, if you have the majority of the crowd on your side, it helps, it gives you motivation, it gives you strength, it gives you energy. When you don’t, then you have to find it within, I guess,” Novak Djokovic added.

World Number three, Roger Federer’s 21st Grand Slam was just one shot away from him, but the Serb’s mental stability was the linchpin to his courageous performance on the Centre Court on Sunday.

His self-belief and focused mind helped him get through the crucial moments of the game and yes, of course, the relentless tennis from Djokovic during tiebreakers turned the match on his side. 

With Djokovic’s 16th Grand Slam title, the top seed, ties with the Wimbledon record of Borg Bjorn and Venus Williams who have five titles each. And Martina Navratilova remains on the summit of the list with nine Wimbledon crowns.