Novak Djokovic on his interaction with ‘annoying’ US Open fan

Shahida Jacobs 06 Sep 2023 5:31 AM

Novak Djokovic (SRB) during his match

There have been a couple of incidents with unruly spectators at this year’s US Open, but Novak Djokovic admits he doesn’t mind crowd interactions in general, although one fan did get under his skin during his match against Taylor Fritz.

Djokovic was left furious late on during his quarter-final clash against Fritz on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday as a fan shouted while the ball was still in the air. The Serbian lost the point, but he immediately turned to the crowd and started remonstrating.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner is not the only one who has had problems with spectators as Daniil Medvedev complained earlier in the tournament about one fan shouting “vamos, vamos, vamos, vamos” constantly during his match while Alexander Zverev asked security to remove a man over a Hitler slur during his win over Jannik Sinner.

For Djokovic, the latest incident didn’t matter too much as he secured a comfortable 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the ninth-seeded American to reach his 47th Grand Slam semi-final – a new Open Era record.

“I speak for myself. Obviously, there’s 90 whatever per cent of the time you don’t react,” the three-time Flushing Meadows champion said during his press conference. “I mean people speak, they move around. You got to be ready for that. Particularly at the US Open, especially in the night sessions.

“It’s part of the sport and mostly I don’t mind it, but in those important moments when you are all of a sudden under a lot of stress and you’re facing a break point and then all of a sudden everything annoys you and distracts you, so then you react.

Novak Djokovic vs Taylor Fritz
Djokovic again at some of the crowd who were far too preemtive with their shouting and cheering an angry Novak Djokovic is the worst Novak Djokovic for the opponent pic.twitter.com/yFDmv55hUC

— 個人の感想です (@kHJRyPGxhEYOw1m) September 6, 2023

“But again, that’s heat of the moment and playing on the highest level. I’m actually glad that crowd wants to get into it because it means that the match is interesting, that they want to be part of it and that they are having fun.

“At the end of the day, they pay tickets to come and watch you play. So we try to put on a show and perform for them so they go back home satisfied that they’ve been here and enjoyed their day.

“Sometimes you might have an interaction with the player. Like this guy today. I’m sorry for him, but he was really annoying at that point. And that’s it, It happens.”

Djokovic will return to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday as he will take on rising American Ben Shelton for a place in the final.