Novak Djokovic caught up in ugly crowd drama in Davis Cup victory for Serbia

Novak Djokovic has been captured blowing up at British fans after Serbia's victory in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. The Serbian tennis star continued his phenomenal season by guiding his nation into the semi-finals of the teams competition, where they will face Italy in what shapes as another mouthwatering showdown against Jannik Sinner.

The World No.1 guided Serbia into the last-four with a clinical 6-4, 6-4 victory over Britain's Cameron Norrie in which the 24-time grand slam winner only dropped eight points on his serve all match. Jack Draper was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) by Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening match of the best-of-three tie, meaning Norrie had to beat Djokovic for the first time in his career.

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Despite being a fixture inside the world's top 20 for three successive seasons, Britain's No.1 never really stood a chance against a red-hot Djokovic, who is playing some of the best tennis of his career. The Serb's win was overshadowed by some unsavoury scenes during his post-match speech on court, when British fans tried to drown out his victory speech by pounding on drums.

The 36-year-old could be heard telling the rowdy supporters to "shut up" and show some respect by allowing him to conduct his interview. Djokovic also had a running battle with the same set of supporters during the match and could be seen cupping his hand to his ear after winning a point in the second set following a disturbance from the British fans.

Novak Djokovic hits out over crowd antics

“The entire match pretty much, there was disrespect but it’s something I have to be prepared for in the Davis Cup,” Djokovic told reporters. “It’s normal that fans step over the line and in the heat of the moment you react too and in a way show that you don’t allow this kind of behaviour.

“They can do whatever they want but I’m going to respond to that.” Djokovic said his outburst towards the British supporters during his post-match interview was a culmination of what had happened previously on court. “I was trying to talk and they purposely started to play the drums, to not let me talk,” he added. “They were trying to annoy me the entire match, so we had a little bit of a chat in the end.”

Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner set to meet again

Djokovic’s victory pits him on a collision course with Italy’s Sinner, who he beat in the ATP Finals in Turin to clinch his seventh title of an astonishing season. Sinner beat Djokovic in the group stage of the ATP Finals and the pair are set to meet again in the Davis Cup semi-finals after Italy accounted for the Netherlands 2-1.

“Third time in a bit more than a week, it’s gonna be great for tennis fans and for both Italian sports tennis fans and Serbia, and here also in Malaga,” Djokovic said. “We’re kind of developing a nice rivalry lately.

“He’s really confident and playing, as I said, some of the best tennis that we saw him play ever. I’m not playing bad myself. So it’s going to be, I think, a great match.”

Djokovic heads into the Davis Cup tie against Italy eyeing off more history after a season in which he equalled Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 grand slam singles titles. The Serb won three majors in 2023 with his only defeat in a grand slam singles match coming in the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. If the 36-year-old manages to lead Serbia to Davis Cup glory, it would cap off one of the most extraordinary seasons in tennis history.

with agencies

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