"Come and say that in my face!" - Novak Djokovic silences heckler during Australian Open 2R battle
Novak Djokovic took on a noisy Rod Laver Arena crowd during his second-round clash at the 2024 Australian Open on Wednesday (January 17). That wasn't a surprise considering he was playing local lad Alexei Popyrin.
The voices of dissent got worse as the match went on, and peaked when the World No. 1 saved multiple set points to take the third set into a tiebreaker.
In the fourth set, one fan in particular got under Djokovic's skin, yelling at him from the stands. The 24-time Grand Slam champion did not take the heckling lightly, responding to him by shouting:
"Come and say that in my face!"
The fan went quiet after that, and action resumed in Melbourne Park. The Serb went on to take the fourth set comfortably, winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-7(4), 6-3 in a little over three hours to reach the third round of the 2024 Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic to take on 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in Australian Open third round
Following his win over Alexei Popyrin, Novak Djokovic will take on 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round of the 2024 Australian Open.
In his first two rounds, the Argentine defeated Andy Murray and Gael Monfils, both in straight sets. By contrast, Djokovic has lost a set each in his two matches so far; he also lost the second set against Dino Prizmic in his opener on Sunday.
The Serb has faced Etcheverry twice in the past, winning both encounters in straight sets -- at the 2023 Italian Open, and at the Paris Masters later that year.
A third win in as many matches would pit the 24-time Grand Slam champion against either 16th seed Ben Shelton or 20th seed Adriano Mannarino in the fourth round at Melbourne Park.
Although battling a cold this week, the 36-year-old appeared confident about overcoming the infection soon, stating that he will adapt to the circumstances and try to make the best out of it.
"I am a bit under the weather last, yeah, four, five days. You can probably judge by my voice. Look, it is what it is. You just have to try to deal with it and get over it and accept the circumstances and try to make the most of it," Djokovic said in his post-match press conference after the first-round win over Prizmic.