Novak Djokovic hits back at 'provocative' and 'unfair' Centre Court crowd during Wimbledon win over Kyle Edmund

1/208
James Benge8 July 2018

Novak Djokovic hit back at a “provocative” and “unfair” Centre Court crowd after spoiling their hopes of British glory at Wimbledon with a four-set victory over Kyle Edmund.

After dropping the first set to the British No.1, Djokovic motored through the gears in an impressive dismantling of Edmund to ensure there would be no British representative in the second week of the singles for the first time since 2007.

Djokovic did not appear to be enjoying himself even as he turned a potential banana skin into a commanding victory. As he faltered in the first he threw his hands up in frustration, but soon found moved on from berating himself to a crowd who were revelling in his frustration, whistling and cat-calling when the three-time SW19 champion lost his cool.

“I expected them to support Kyle, obviously,” Djokovic said. “But at times they were slightly unfair to me. That's how it goes.

“Playing high-intensity matches where one serve or one shot can really swing the momentum one or the other side, obviously there is a lot of accumulation of emotions, especially in the decisive moments of the set and matches. Sometimes you express yourself in a positive or negative way.

"Of course, I don't like when I throw a racquet or scream or whatever, but I have to accept that I'm a human being like anybody else, that I can feel the pressure as everybody else. My interaction with the crowd, I thought had good things and not that great things. I just reacted the way I thought it was fair, the way they reacted to me."

Djokovic is used to the pressure of taking on Britain’s finest on Centre Court, having lost to Andy Murray in the 2012 Olympics and 2013 Wimbledon final.

But on the five-year anniversary of that match - the first British triumph at the All England Club in 77 years - Djokovic insisted that the crowd had been even more febrile this evening.

“The crowd was very fair when I played against Andy. Obviously, they support their player. There's nothing you can say about that. Of course, I mean, it's expected.

AP

“But today there was just some people, especially behind that end where I got the time violation, they kept on going, they kept on going, provoking. That's something that I can tolerate for a little bit, but I'm going to show that I'm present, as well, that they can't do whatever they feel like doing.”

Unsurprisingly, Edmund revelled in the partisan support.

“It was great,” the 23-year-old said. "I really enjoyed it. Playing on Centre Court is always like a dream and a great experience. From playing last year in my first match here, this is the best it's been in terms of atmosphere. At points in the match it was really loud. It was a great atmosphere to be in.

“When you're on Centre Court, to have the crowd behind you, it's a great thing to have. It's obviously better than being against you. In terms of experience, it was a nice one.

“For me, I'm British. I'm playing in front of the British crowd. I'm just trying to soak it all in and enjoy it.

“I've played in Serbia. Serbian fans obviously supported Serbian players. That's normal. I don't really know. He'd obviously have his opinion on it. For me, I just soaked it up and tried to enjoy it as much as possible.”

AFP/Getty Images

Edmund, seeded 21st, may have been hoping to make an impact later in the fortnight. But there was enough in his display to suggest the youngster could be a serious contender in the post-‘Big Four’ era.

His powerful serving and explosive forehand ought to serve him well during the hard court season to come, while on tonight’s evidence he should not want for support in his home slam. Djokovic also expects Edmund to challenge in the upper echelons of tennis.

“Could he win Slams? Why not? He does have a quality. He has a very good team of people around him. He has a good work-ethic. He's quite committed, a good guy, has a lot of respect from everyone in the locker room.

“He improved his game in the last 12 months. His backhand - we always knew the forehand is a weapon - but the backhand, he was making a lot of unforced errors from that end. He improved a lot since he started working with a new coach [Fredrik Rosengren]. He completed his game. He's top 20. He's going towards top 10. He's definitely going to be a contender.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in