The Wimbledon Court 1 crowd booed Novak Djokovic’s name after Lorenzo Musetti set up a semi-final with the Serbian star thanks to his 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 3-6 6-1 victory over Taylor Fritz.
The boisterous SW19 fans were firmly on the side of the Italian as he fought off a determined Fritz, before breadsticking him in the decider, earning a warm reaction from the crowd in stark contrast to what the seven-time Wimbledon champion endured two evenings prior.
After Djokovic defeated Holger Rune, he was upset with some perceived boos from those in attendance on Centre Court, grabbing the microphone and hitting back by telling them “goooooood night”.
Those at the British Slam did not get to show their reaction to Djokovic on Wednesday after his quarter-final opponent Alex De Minaur pulled out through injury on the morning of their match.
Instead, when Djokovic’s name was mentioned to Musetti as he was informed of his next opponent, there were noticeable boos from the crowd who were far from impressed with the 37-year-old’s recent reaction.
“Yeah. He probably knows better than me the surface and the stadium for sure,” Musetti said in his on-court interview in an attempt to drown out the taunts to his next opponent. “I mean jokes aside he’s a legend especially – I mean everywhere but here in Wimbledon in the last years he made something really unthinkable for anything.
“I had the chance to play against him a lot of times so we know each other pretty well. Always been a huge fight so I expect a big, big fight and I think it’s going to be one of the toughest challenge on tour but I’m an ambitious guy and I like to be challenged. I’ll try my best, I try to put my 100 per cent effort and let’s see what’s going to happen.”
Before Djokovic’s name was uttered to audible groans from fans, Musetti expressed his delight at reaching a Major semi-final for the first time in his career, as the fourth Italian in history to reach this stage at Wimbledon.
“I have no words,” he said. “It’s tough to speak but I’ll try my best. I think I haven’t realized yet what I’ve done. Thanks to all the people and Italian crowd who are here to support.
“We were joking with my team about trying to play on the big stage at Wimbledon. I had never tried Court 1. To walk on this amazing stadium was really an honour for me. I think I played a really fantastic match.
“Taylor was in great shape. Really really happy to be in my first semifinal here. Thanks to my team and all my friends who came from my hometown to support me.”