Tennis | Novak Djokovic is perhaps the most despised superstar in the sport at the moment, with the audience threatening to turn their backs

Serbian Novak Djokovic has always been able to gather attention. During the Australian Open, he received a large dose of it for his coronation vaccination activities.

Even those who have followed tennis even thinly in the past have had an opinion of Djokovic, and that’s no surprise.

Djokovic knows how to charm with his many qualities. He scores points in the French Open by giving field interviews in French – a small gesture to the tournament organizers.

Wimbledon’s victory speech in 2018 was emotional as Djokovic sent greetings to his son and wife. He knew how to take his audience.

But there are plenty of examples for the other side as well – and a lot.

In At the time of the 2007 Stockholm Open, Djokovic was only 20 years old and still number three on the ATP list. The above were only Swiss Roger Federer number one and Spanish Rafael Nadal second.

Djokovic played in the ATP tournament in Vienna that week of October, but he was the talk of the Royal Tennis Hall.

Other professional players watched Djokovic’s match on TV and counted how many times the young star bounced the ball before his own pass. The voices repeated. . . 15, 16, 17. . . 20. . . and the counting continued.

This happened before each feed.

Djokovic was a young star, but he brought his own trademark to the sport – and it really wasn’t liked.

Yet in 2007, Djokovic had not won any grand slam tournaments, but that time would come.

Just three months later, he played in the final of the Australian Open. The match progressed to France Jo-Wilfried Tsongaa against the fourth tranche and situation 5-5.

That’s when the audience got bored. Viewers began to shout, “Stop bouncing and start playing.”

Djokovic looked into the auditorium as if embarrassed and continued to bounce. Again broke 20 times. Djokovic won the first grand slam of his career in Melbourne.

Over the years, Djokovic has gotten a good bounce buddy from Rafael Nadal.

Previously players had to send their input to the game in 30 seconds. Time was very stretchy and easily exceeded. Today, the rule requires the game to continue for 25 seconds.

Some kind of limit was crossed when the US Open first introduced feeding clocks in 2018. In the fields and arenas of Flushing Meadow, players will see the clocks at a glance.

Djokovic still easily exceeds 25 seconds. If he gets punished for it, he accuses the judge of having pain.

Nadal has said bluntly that players are not machines but need their moments to recover.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the second on the world list, has apparently not yet learned the “house ways” when he plays at a very fast pace and doesn’t usually need even 20 seconds to continue the game.

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Djokovic has been one of the pioneers of toilet break culture. The habit spread like a bush fire to several other professional players and even junior series.

Djokovic is undeniably one of the tennis superstars as capitalized as possible, but still something is missing.

In the few finals of the value tournament – if anywhere – Djokovic is an undisputed audience favorite.

The culmination was seen in the 2019 Wimbledon finals. Djokovic faced Federer and won an epic battle with the Swiss after two matchballs. The audience applauded Djokovic for mistakes and buzzed him.

By no means commendable, but that’s often the case for Djokovic. The audience turns their backs on some small gesture and look, and that’s what they feel they want.

It was almost unheard of for Djokovic’s former coach Boris Becker had to ask for more respect and appreciation for his close player.

“He [Djokovic] came to the party, which was Roger and Rafan, and he became a party cheerleader, ”Becker told the BBC in 2019 after Wimbledon, referring to the duel before Djokovic’s breakthrough 15 years ago.

Becker knows what he’s talking about: he himself came to the center John McEnroen, Jimmy Connorsin, Ivan Lendlin, Mats Wilanderin and other superstar stars of the 1980s and won Wimbledon in 1985 at just 17 years old.

US Open and Djokovic has a problematic relationship. He has won the tournament three times (2011, 2015, 2018) but does not enjoy the humid heat of New York. New York in late August often offers bad weather.

In New York, Djokovic seemed to have taken toilet breaks into his game and at times at almost any time he wanted.

The Wall Street Journal wrote last year that toilet breaks are part of Djokovic’s tactics. That’s what the timings of the breaks have really looked like.

There are game breaks in hockey, a quarter of a break in football and breaks in basketball as well, but tennis spectators are used to watching the game rather than players walking to the bathroom.

Djokovic has been one of the pioneers of toilet break culture. The habit spread like a bush fire to several other professional players and even junior series.

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Nor did it actually increase Djokovic’s popularity that he hit the ball in the line referee’s throat at the US Open in 2020 and became disqualified in his fourth-round match.

Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas stretched last year at the US Open Andy Murrayn tolerance by taking a very long toilet break before the fifth batch. Murray’s game was mixed, with Tsitsipas winning the fifth set 6-0.

The top of it all was somewhat unknown Jenson Brooksbyn two breaks Taylor Fritz against the second round of the US Open in 2021. The first visit lasted twelve minutes and the second seven.

There was no rule about the length of toilet breaks. The tennis rule book only talked about the time required. Now comes the change. This year, all ATP tournaments are only allowed one toilet break, which is three minutes from the toilet door. In grand slams, breaks are allowed for two, but they must be scheduled between batches.

Neither did not actually increase Djokovic’s popularity by hitting the ball in the line referee’s throat at the US Open in 2020 and was disqualified in his fourth-round match.

As a matter of fact, this situation divided the tennis fans into two camps. Some considered the stroke insignificant, some considered it unreasonably hard. The biggest thing was that it hit.

Djokovic’s stock price plummeted when he hosted the Adria Tour tournament series in Serbia in the first corona summer of 2020. The tour became a corona spin and had to be suspended. In the end, Djokovic apologized.

The Australian Open will start in Melbourne on 17 January.