Novak Djokovic Roland Garros reception rankles Alex Corretja

French Open
Novak Djokovic

The French Open crowd greeted Novak Djokovic with a decidedly mixed reaction ahead of his fourth round match against Diego Schwartzman.

As Djokovic was announced he was greeted by waves of boos and cheers drawing comments from Eurosport pundit Alex Corretja.

Corretja and Alize Lim were at court level at the time, observing the players emerging for the match and commenting on the Eurosport broadcast.

“Yes, here we are!” Corretja opened before the crowd’s reaction turned sour.

“Hey?!” Corretja responded as he looked up at the gathered crowd.

“I don’t like that! No, man. It is Novak Djokovic. He has shown us, given us so much.

“So just support both, and let’s just enjoy the match! This is pretty much what we need.”

Lim noted the mixed reception for Djokovic while a bewildered Corretja was incredulous at the disrespect shown to the World No 1.

“That’s tough. I think there is both cheering and a little bit of booing as well,” Lim said.

“No, I don’t like that either. Come on, it’s the world No. 1, let’s just be respectful,” Corretja said.

Djokovic has recovered his best form at the French Open and it will take something special to stop him from defending his title.

His coach Goran Ivanisevic has revealed an agreement with the star about his on-court outbursts.

Novak Djokovic ‘is back’ says John McEnroe

Djokovic is known to be quite emotional on the court, something which some crowds don’t appreciate but Ivanisevic says he understands the need to blow off some steam.

“I really do not mind when he is screaming. Believe me, I know what it is like down there, I was a player myself. Emotions are sometimes overwhelming and you just need to let it all out. Look, let him scream, let him take it all out, as long as he wins, that is the most important thing.”

Ivanisevic added that he feels Djokovic will always come back to himself quickly.

“We cannot talk during the match, so we have an agreement that he always comes back to one or two things. He stabilises himself pretty quickly,” he commented.

Novak Djokovic

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