- The seven-time champion won his game 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 in a little under three hours
- After, he began to celebrate by mimicking playing the violin as fans booed
- It was for his daughter, who has recently started playing the instrument
Novak Djokovic was booed by the Centre Court crowd once again at Wimbledon after his semi-final win over Lorenzo Musetti.
The seven-time winner booked his place in his 10th SW19 final on Friday night as he blitzed past the Italian, storming to a three-set victory just over a month after having knee surgery.
He will now take on Carlos Alcaraz in a repeat of last year’s final, with the Serb looking for revenge after coming out on the wrong end of a five-set classic a year ago.
Upon winning the final point, Djokovic pulled out a celebration that he has performed before, which involves imitating playing a violin, to which the crowd took exception to and began to boo.
There was confusion upon the celebration, however, with those in attendance seemingly thinking it was aimed as a sarcastic celebration towards the fans, who have had an indifferent relationship with the finalist throughout the tournament.
After beating Holger Rune in the round of 16, Djokovic called out fans who he thought had been booing him throughout the game.
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It had been suggested, meanwhile, that fans had actually been calling his opponent’s name, with Djokovic confusing the chants with jeers.
‘To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate it,’ Djokovic said in his post-match interview. ‘And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player – in this case me – have a goooooooood night.’
His rather non-plussed BBC interviewer Rishi Persad said: ‘I am hoping they were just commenting on Rune, and they were not disrespecting you.’
Djokovic – who has a track record of taking on crowds – was having none of that. ‘They were. They were [disrespecting me],’ he insisted. ‘I am not accepting it. No no no. I know they were cheering for Rune but that’s an excuse to also boo.
‘Listen, I have been on the tour for more than 20 years. I know all the tricks. I focus on the respectful people that pay for the ticket, and love tennis and appreciate the players. I played in much more hostile environments, trust me – you guys can’t touch me.’
Later, he said: ‘I didn’t know what they were chanting, honestly, I thought they were booing. OK, I don’t know.
‘It was not an ideal atmosphere for me to tell you that, but I have been in this particular atmospheres before, so I knew how to handle it.’
The 37-year-old has in fact been performing the celebration for a number of games now, with his daughter Tara, born in 2017, recently learning to play the violin.
He turned to his players box, also containing Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, after shaking hands with the umpire on Friday, and began mimicking playing the instrument as TV cameras cut to Tara cheering in the crowd.
He appeared to play up to the crowd, however, turning to all corners of the stands to pretend to play the instrument.
All was well later, though, with fans cheering him off the court after he conducted his latest interview ahead of the final.