The defending champion has a testy second-round win in Melbourne; women’s champ Aryna Sabalenka and U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff also advance to the third round
Already sick and tired in another early round slog, Novak Djokovic unloaded on a heckler who crossed the line at the Australian Open.
Defending champion Djokovic angrily challenged the spectator to “say that to my face” and gestured to the man to come down onto the Rod Laver Arena court, the venue for 10 of his record 24 Grand Slam titles.
He then went on a roll, winning three straight games from 2-2 in the fourth set before finishing off Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) 6-3.
The 36-year-old Serb then turned to the crowd again and yelled, pumping his fist to celebrate the victory.
Asked later what triggered his rage, Djokovic responded: “I mean, you don’t want to know.”
“I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had enough,” he said. “He didn’t have the courage to come down. That’s what I was asking him: ‘If you have courage, if you’re such a tough man, tough guy, come down and tell it to my face.’”
That didn’t happen. Djokovic didn’t ask for the man to be removed. Stadium security didn’t intervene.
Djokovic moved on to the third round, still simmering a little bit about the episode.
“I’m not going to sit and say ‘it’s all good.’ It’s not good,” he said. “Of course, it upsets me. I’m frustrated. I don’t want to be experiencing that, but I have to accept it as it is.
“Sometimes I don’t tolerate when somebody crosses the line.
