"Not Novak Djokovic making me a fan of him more and more everyday” - Fans react to Serb’s hilarious acceptance speech after winning mock ATP awards

Novak Djokovic accepting ATP Golden Racket Awards for the 'Best Storyline' has 'Bert Critchley' has left fans in splits.

The ATP Golden Racket Awards is a continuation of the parody sketch released by ATP Tour earlier this year. It featured some of the biggest names in the sport who revealed that tennis is scripted.

The Serb, whose 'real' name is Bert Critchley, was up for three awards - 'Best Actor', 'Best Song', and 'Best Storyline'. He won the 'Best Storyline' award for his story '24 Slams'.

The ATP Tour uploaded the World No. 1's acceptance speech, who after receiving the award thanked all of his fans for their constant support over his 20-year career.

"Oh my god. Yes. Finally all these years of playing Novak Djokovic. I’m so happy, I wanna thank all the Bert fam that has been trusting me, following me, supporting me over the years. Thank you for supporting my character, its been a really incredible journey, incredible ride for 20 years playing Novak Djokovic," the Serb said.

"At times he was really funny, at times, boring as hell. But, you know, it’s part of the job. You have to just accept it, embrace it. And I love working with Fraser McKnight (Andy Murray), my friends and others," he added.

Fans reacted hilariously to the 36-year-old's acceptance speech and took to Instagram to express their love for the Serb with one of the fans saying how Djokovic was making them fall in love with him more and more every day.

"Not Novak making me a fan of him more and more every day," a fan wrote on Instagram.

Another fan loved how the 24-time Major champion played along with the character in a fun way.

"I like how he took part in such as fun way. Well deserved award," the fan's comment read.

Instagram comments

Another fan joked that the person portraying Novak Djokovic was actually named "Dragan".

"Oh yea I’ve heard of this guy. He plays “Novak “ his real name is Dragan," the fan's comment read.

Fan's comment on Instagram

Here are some other reactions from the fans:

Instagram comments.

"I'll be back soon" - Novak Djokovic promises to bounce back

The Serb promises to bounce back

During his acceptance speech, after thanking everyone, Novak Djokovic acknowledged that the 2024 season hasn't started according to plan. The Serb stated how he would have wanted to win the Australian Open but still had fun participating in the parody sketch thanking everyone involved in its creation.

He promised to bounce back soon before finishing his speech.

"It didn’t start the way I would normally start winning Australian Open but, you know, it was fun ripping my shirt in the restroom in Melbourne was one of the funniest things I’ve ever done in my character. So thank you to all the producers, all my directors. I’ll be back soon," the Serb said.

Djokovic booked his place in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells by beating Aleksandar Vukic 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. He will next take on Luca Nardi.