Clare Balding and John McEnroe clashed over Novak Djokovic’s actions (Image: BBC)
Novak Djokovic will play in his 16th Wimbledon quarter-final on Wednesday when he faces Italian star Flavio Cobolli for a place in the last four. The Serbian icon has had to battle throughout this year’s competition, due to a mix of fitness concerns and tricky opponents. One of such was the 38-year-old’s last eight rival, Alex de Minaur.
The Australian star put Djokovic through his paces and even took the first set 6-1 against the Serb to the spectator’s surprise. However, the 24-time Grand Slam hit back and cruised to victory. Djokovic’s ascent to the latter stages of Wimbledon calls to mind an incident from last year when BBC host Clare Balding and former tennis icon-turned-pundit John McEnroe clashed over Djokovic’s behaviour as he reached the last eight after beating Danish player Holger Rune.
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Balding, 54, and the three-time Wimbledon champion didn’t see eye to eye over Djokovic‘s outburst at the Wimbledon crowd, with the pair clashing on whether the Serbian star was justified in his reaction.
It began after Djokovic deployed an extraordinary post-match interview, after he felt he was booed in the encounter with Rune. “To all the fans who have respect and have stayed here tonight, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it,” the Serbian said.
Djokovic then added: “And to all those people who have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case, me, have a goooood night. Goooood night. Goooood night. Very good night.”
McEnroe then defended the player’s right to express his anger. “Well done,” McEnroe said on the BBC, as Balding maintained that Djokovic should have kept his powder dry by not addressing the crowd.
Djokovic couldn’t hide his anger after his clash with Holger Rune (Image: Getty)
McEnroe, calling on his own history as an antagonist on the court, continued: “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.
“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?
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“He is like the Darth Vader. There’s 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.
“It’s like, ‘How about respecting me in all this?’ Here’s a guy that had a 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?
John McEnroe was quick to defend Djokovic (Image: Getty)
On Djokovic’s refusal to believe that the crowd were actually chanting ‘Rune’, with a heavy emphasis on the letter ‘u’ and not booing, McEnroe said: “So yes there were maybe a handful of Danish people going ‘Rune’ and I get that people want to see a good match, but you have to respect the greatness that you see.
“I admire the guts that he [Djokovic] had to say it there, that takes something because that’s in a way going to put more people against him. He doesn’t deserve that at this stage, we need him and he has been too great for our game.
“How about they have gone too far the other way? Is it possible that maybe that the fans in there have disrespected him? Don’t you think that there has been at least 100 matches over the course of the last 10 or 15 years where Novak Djokovic has been disrespected because of how good he is?
“Why? What has he done that has been that bad? Name something. What is it, that he wants it? That he competes as hard as anyone has ever competed on a tennis court? I just don’t get why, is it the look or where he is from?”
Clare Balding defended the Wimbledon crowd (Image: Getty)
Balding then quickly jumped in, taking the side of the fans, as she countered: “I don’t think it’s any of that. I genuinely think, particularly here, I think it is that people root for an underdog and I think they always have done.
“I think they love it when it looks like in matches that it might be competitive, the guy that seemingly had no chance on paper is starting to play well.
“And I do think that’s what happened. He (Rune) wasn’t playing well actually, but it was that they were trying to encourage Rune. John, I genuinely, and I get it is what you’re saying, but I would be so surprised if a Wimbledon crowd on Centre Court were being deliberately disrespectful.”
The prickly incident last summer didn’t affect Djokovic too much as he made the final. However, he was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. Djokovic will now face Cobolli on Wednesday, July 8, with the showdown expected to get underway around 2:40pm.