Back in June, during the Roland Garros tournament, the French fans booed Novak Djokovic in all the matches he played, and it became so intense that John McEnroe had to lash at them. But the very organized and strong-willed Serbian star fought against their disrespect and won the title to their dismay.
On his return to Paris, the French fans have continued from where they stopped in June and this time around Djokovic left them in shock. The world No. 1 avoided a scare in the third-round tie against Tallon Griekspoor, as Djokovic rallied from a first-set loss to beat the Netherlands star even with the fans ‘support.
Novak Djokovic remained unfazed by Paris Crowd’s booing
Novak Djokovic was on the brink of becoming the latest upset victim of fans booing to defeat at the Rolex Paris Masters. The fans had booed world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz to a setback and world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev to a frustrating loss, but the Serbian battled to win the final eight points of the match in a thrilling contest that saw him go past Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Djokovic’s victory extended his winning streak to 15 matches and tightened his grip on the no.1 ATP ranking. The Serbian now leads Carlos Alcaraz, who was upset in the opening rounds by Roman Safiullin, by 670 points in the ATP Live Race to Turin.
After the thrilling contest, Djokovic revealed he was struggling with a stomach issue — though he was full of praise for Griekspoor’s effort. “I don’t want to take anything away from his performance. He didn’t drop the level,” the Serbian said.
“Maybe in the third set a few games he did a bit, but he was playing at a very high level, and credit to him for that performance. If he would be the winner tonight, it would be absolutely deserved.”
“I started off well but I ran out of steam. I’ve been struggling the last couple of days with my stomach and I just didn’t feel myself at all. I was just trying to hold my serve and get to a tie-break, which happened in the second. I got lucky on a couple of shots there. It could have easily gone his way, but overall I played a good tie-break and I started to feel better in the third. I’m really, really glad to overcome this challenge.”
The victory keeps Novak Djokovic on course for his record-extending 7th Paris Masters title and marks reaching his 11th quarter-final at the ATP Masters 1000. Tallon Griekspoor moved up to 21 in the ATP rankings, setting himself up to achieve a career-high for the second consecutive week.
Tennis fans brutally rips Paris crowd for booing Novak Djokovic
The Paris fans were disrespectful booing Novak Djokovic all through his third round fame against Tallon Griekspoor. It was so astonishing that the Serbian had to clap with his racket to their behaviour.
Tennis fans showed their sincere love for Djokovic when they brutally lashed out at the Paris crowd, for booing the world No. 1.
A fan reacted on X formerly known as Twitter writing, “French crowd is the most loser tennis crowd ever.”
Tennis letter wrote on X condemning the rudeness of the French fans, “Novak Djokovic applauds the crowd after they cheered when he double-faulted on break point in Paris. They booed him & he gestured with his arms to give him more. He proceeded to break the serve of love. When will they learn, this only makes him play better?”
Another fan reacted, “Novak Djokovic taking his shit will never cease to be a badass f**k”
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is set to play Holger Rune in the quarterfinals, a rematch of the 2022 Paris Masters final in which Rune astonishingly won.
