Novak not impressed by British boos at Wimbledon
LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic shrugged off a bad call by the chair umpire that cost him a break in his Wimbledon win over home favorite Kyle Edmund on Saturday.
He was less forgiving when it came to the way he was treated by the crowd at the All England Club.
“There is a certain unwritten borderline where you feel that it’s a bit too much,” Djokovic said about being booed at times by the partisan crowd on Centre Court. “I didn’t deserve to be treated the way I was treated by certain individuals.”
Neither the crowd nor the umpire’s error could unglue Djokovic, though, as the three-time champion won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last 16 for the 11th time.
He was robbed of a break at 3-3, 15-40 in the fourth set when the ball bounced twice before Edmund managed to return it over the net. Djokovic complained to the chair umpire but the call stood — even though TV replays also showed the shot was wide.
Edmund ended up holding serve but Djokovic broke at his next opportunity to make sure there will be no British players in the second week of the tournament.
“I was 100 percent convinced it (bounced) twice,” Djokovic said.
“Anybody can make a mistake. That’s OK. But I don’t understand why he (the umpire) didn’t allow me to challenge the ball. I asked him. So, yes, it was quite a strange decision from the chair umpire, but it happens.”
That wasn’t the only point of contention. Djokovic got into a bit of a two-sided argument with the crowd after he was booed following a time violation in the third set. He responded by blowing kisses into the stands.
“I thought the crowd’s reaction after that (time violation) was quite unnecessary. A couple (of ) guys really, you know, pretending they were coughing and whistling while I was bouncing the ball more or less to the end of the match.
“Those are the things obviously that people don’t get to see or hear on the TV.
“My interaction with the crowd had good things and not great things. I just reacted the way I thought was fair, the way they reacted to me.”
Edmund said he didn’t notice anything disrespectful from the crowd, but added: “It was a great atmosphere to be in. When you’re at Centre Court, to have the crowd behind you is a great thing.”
On the disputed call in the fourth set, Edmund said: “If in real life it’s hard to tell, then it’s hard to tell for me when I’m scrambling.
“We need the umpire to get off his chair and go to the TV monitor on the side.”
It was the third time Djokovic faced a British player at Wimbledon, losing to Andy Murray in the 2013 final and beating James Ward in 2016. But this was the first time the three-time champion got a reaction like this.
“The crowd was very fair when I played against Andy. Obviously they support their player,” he said. “But today there was just some people, especially behind that end where I got the time violation, they kept on going, they kept on going, provoking.
“That’s something I can tolerate for a little bit, but I’m going to show that I’m present as well, that they can’t do whatever they feel like.”