Novak Djokovic slams ‘provocative’ Australian Open crowd, calls for NFL-style entertainment

MELBOURNE, Australia – Novak Djokovic said he “loved” Danielle Collins’ reaction to a hostile home crowd at the Australian Open, adding he was now a “huge fan” of the American.

After beating home favorite Destanee Aiava at a raucous Kia Arena, Collins kissed the crowd and thanked them in her on-court interview for helping her land a “big fat pay check.”

Asked about the incident after beating No. 26 seed Tomas Machac in straight sets, Djokovic said with a smile: “I loved her response. I loved it, everything she said on the court, off the court.

“Big fan of Danielle Collins after that. I was before, but now, big fan (smiling). I love it.”

He added: “I don’t think I would be that polite and I know exactly the feeling. So I think she was funny, smart and just a big fan of what she was doing. Big fan.”

Dealing with the hostile Australian crowd has been a recurring theme at this tournament, with Britain’s Jack Draper poking the ear of the home fans as he celebrated a five-set victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday and then dealing with whistles in the late stages of his match. with Aleksandar Vukic.

Djokovic wasn’t up against an Australian player on Friday night, but he often has run-ins with supporters who enjoy winding him up. It happened a couple of times against Machac, with Djokovic urging the umpire to make an announcement asking the fans to be quiet midway through the third set. Djokovic made frequent gestures towards fans that bothered him, including at the end of the match when he pointed at one of them and held his ear.

“A few people here and there (exceeded the mark),” he said afterward. “I understand you have a few more drinks and then you get into it.

“If it’s repeated, it happens for an hour, someone tells you things in the corner that you don’t want to hear and constantly provocative, then of course it gets to the point where you just react.

“So I tried to tolerate it, but at some point I had to respond.”

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Despite his disagreement with some of the fans’ behavior, Djokovic said he would advocate for tennis to move away from its traditional image by embracing a reasonable level of raucousness — including, he said, having dancers on court in style with NFL and NBA entertainment.

“Why wouldn’t we consider doing something between sets like the Super Bowl or the NBA? When there’s a timeout, they have, you know, dancers that come in and this and that. I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Nice dancers , you know, there for a few more minutes break so I can relax my nerves and think about something else (smiling).

“I feel it would bring a more fun element and entertainment to tennis, which we know has been quite traditional and maybe conservative in some things. When we talk about conservatives, we know Wimbledon is the most conservative. But for example with Wimbledon I wouldn’t change much I would keep it as it is because it’s so unique, all white and strawberries and cream and everything about it is just so elegant and stylish.

“But all the others, the US Open, I mean, in the US you know what entertainment is about. So I’m ready for it, like maybe gradual changes (smiling). Dancers first.”

Next up for Djokovic is a fourth-round match on Sunday against another Czech, no. 24th seed Jiri Lehecka.

(Top photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)