Djokovic on why he doesn’t mind crowd boos: “I’ll just keep winning!”

Novak Djokovic doesn’t expect every crowd to be behind him – but he doesn’t mind

Zuma/Panoramic

June 10, 2023

Novak Djokovic’s less-than-muted celebrations as he dismantled an ailing Carlos Alcaraz in their Roland-Garros semi-final on Friday drew the ire of the crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

But the 22-time Grand Slam champion said afterwards that he wasn’t bothered by the boos.

“I don’t mind,” he smiled. “It’s not the first; probably not the last. I’ll just keep winning.”

Tennis Majors

The Serb also made it clear that he understood the crowd’s disappointment at the way the match finished after two very exciting sets of tennis.

“The intensity was extremely high for the first two sets, so we both felt it, you know, in the legs. We both felt it also the way the energy levels were maybe not as high.

“The beginning of the third set was I think key for me to hang on, and something unexpected happened. I think nobody really expected him to experience these cramps, and obviously from that moment onwards it was a different match.

“For me, I just tried to stay there, stay present, you know, make him play. That’s it. You know, he couldn’t move, you know, as well as he was doing for first two sets.

“So of course it was not great for the crowd, you know, to experience such a match. That was completely different to what they have seen for two sets, but it is what it is.”