Novak Djokovic stormed out of his interview with the BBC, with the Serb upset that several questions were centred around the crowd that he moaned about after his fourth-round Wimbledon win over Holger Rune.
The second seed complained that the Centre Court supporters were using Rune’s name to mock him, turning back to them during his on-court interview to shout “goooood night” and elongating to mimic the boos he claimed to have heard during the match.
Djokovic then sat down with the BBC, but after being unimpressed with the line of questioning, wanted to discuss a different issue before walking out of the conversation.
When initially asked how he felt about about his post-match reaction, Djokovic bluntly replied: “Same.”
The reporter then asked if Djokovic felt that he got the respect that he deserves as a seven-time winner. “As I said in the post-match interview, I think most of the people in the stadium were respectful and I thank them and know that after watching tennis all day it’s not easy. I was thankful, I don’t take it for granted, they are a big part of why I still play, the crowds who appreciate what we do and the effort we put in.
“When I feel that a crowd is stepping over the line, I react, I don’t regret my words or actions on the court.”
But after a third question about the matter, Djokovic snapped back: “Do you have any questions other than the crowd? I mean are you focused only on that or any questions about the match, or something like that? Or is it solely focused on that? This is the third question already, I said what I have to say, maybe we can speak about something else.”
The reporter then attempted to ask Djokovic about his quarter-final opponent Alex de Minaur, to which the 37-year-old replied: “Yeah I look forward to it, it’s going to be a tough one…”
He nodded to the reporter who tried to talk to Djokovic about the support he will have for their clash on Wednesday, as the boyfriend of British star Katie Boulter, but Djokovic instead stood up and walked out of the interview without answering the question.
Beeb host Clare Balding described the interview as “interesting” and insisted that those on Centre Court had not been booing Djokovic, instead cheering on for his opponent.
But Djokovic fumed immediately after securing a straight-sets victory: “And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a goooood night.”
When Balding’s argument was put towards him, the 37-year-old hit back: “They were, they were, they were. I don’t accept it. No, no, no.”