Novak Djokovic has lost his battle to be loved by the Wimbledon fans – does he deserve more?

As Novak Djokovic celebrated his achievement of reaching a remarkable tenth appearance in a Wimbledon final on Friday evening, the boos rang around Centre Court.

Once again, the pantomime villain of the greatest tennis tournament of them all was firing up his critics and this time, it was the fans who misjudged the moment.

Roll the clock back a few days and Djokovic was guilty of misreading the moment as he mistook cries of ‘Ruuunnneeee’ for boos reserved for him.

The surly way he hit out at the crowd after the match was as ugly as the abuse he got, but this was a champion breaking after years of relentless criticism.

Aside from a few occasions at the Australian Open or in his homeland of Serbia, Djokovic has spent his entire career fighting crowds cheering on his every missed shot, yet he will still compete for a 25th Grand Slam title on Sunday.

Victory against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday will see him equal Roger Federer’s all-time record of eight Wimbledon wins and also eclipse Margaret Court for the most major titles in tennis history.

They are achievements that deserve respect, but Djokovic seems destined to be denied that right.

“He has been battling this for his whole career. Yes, he feeds off negative energy and yes I did feed off that at times, but I hated it in a way,” said tennis legend John McEnroe, who insisted Djokovic had every right to hit back at the Wimbledon crowds, even if he had misjudged their cants in the Rune match.

“Do you want people yelling against you, hoping you’ll lose, just because you’re so good they start pulling for the other guy for no reason other than you’re so good?

“He is like the Darth Vader, but why? What has he done that is so bad?

“Okay, they are two of the greatest class acts we have seen in tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who can compare to them in terms of what they have brought to the table and the way that people love them? Nobody. Then this guy Djokovic has the nerve to come in and break into the party

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“It’s like ‘how about respecting me in all this?’ Here’s a guy that had surgery a month ago, the odds are that 10 per cent that he wouldn’t play this tournament.

“He is thinking ‘I’m helping this tournament’, which he is, why don’t I get some love when I am playing a guy who is 15 in the world and hasn’t done a damn thing compared to him?”

It is easy to understand why a sportsman who has achieved so much believes he has earned the right to be treated with a little more respect, but the tennis public held the ‘Trial of Novak Djokovic’ long ago… and there will be no appeal to his guilty verdict.

Unpleasant incidents of the variety we saw on Centre Court last Monday cement the verdict the wider public came to on this divisive sportsman a long time ago.

Djokovic admits the now familiar hostility from fans fires him up and his response to the haters tends to end with him holding a trophy at the end of the tournament.

He will doubtless be expecting more of the same in Sunday’s Wimbledon final – and will be ready up fire back as only he can.