French tennis professional Corentin Moutet recently recreated Novak Djokovic's 'heart-throwing' celebration after defeating top-seed Nicolas Jarry in the Chile Open quarterfinals.
Djokovic often marks his victories with the 'heart-throwing' gesture as he positions his hands around his chest and extends his arms in all four directions of a stadium. It is apparently the Serb's way of responding to both the love and hate he receives from the stands.
Moutet, who had worked his way through the qualifiers to enter the main draw in Santiago, used Djokovic's signature move in a hostile situation as he sent home-favorite Jarry out of the Chile Open.
It wasn't a comfortable day at work for Moutet as he fought both the crowd and Jarry during the quarterfinal clash. He was subjected to constant jeering from the stands at the center court of Santiago's Club Deportivo Universidad Catolica in Santiago as soon as he started the match with an underarm serve.
Moreover, Jarry offered stern resistance throughout the match as the two remained locked in for two hours and 12 minutes. The two-setter witnessed two tiebreakers as Moutet and Jarry exchanged two breaks each.
The Frenchman, however, fared relatively better in winning points on his first serve as he maintained a conversion rate of 73% against Jarry's 63%. The World No. 140 eventually clinched a 7-6(5), 7-6(3) win.
Moutet, however, received no pats on the back as the crowd continued jeering even during his on-court interview. He, once, tried to calm the spectators down by taking the mic from the host but to no avail.
"IDEMO" - Corentin Moutet doubles down after celebrating like Novak Djokovic at Chile Open 2024
A few hours after booking his berth in the semifinals of the Chile Open 2024, Corentin Moutet doubled down and added another layer of Novak Djokovic's modus operandi.
Moutet took to X (formerly Twitter) and suggested that he intends to cancel hatred with love. He notably ended his comment by writing 'idemo' (Serbian for 'let's go'), which is Djokovic's go-to exclamation.
"Always fight hate with love. I've been thru [through] so many things last year that I can only share love and thanks the people around me. Into semis, IDEMO," Moutet wrote.
Moutet's Chile Open campaign, however, ceased as he lost to Alejandro Tabilo, another Chilean, in the semifinals on Saturday, March 2. Tabilo came from a set down and booked his berth in the final with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win.
Tabilo will take on Argentina's Sebastian Baez in the summit clash scheduled to be held on Sunday (March 3).
How did Novak Djokovic meet Jelena Ristic? All about the most admired couples in tennis