"Novak Djokovic was very, very offended" - Fans amused as Serb reacts to learning his "chicken" nickname at Shanghai Masters

Novak Djokovic's reaction to his Chinese nickname being 'chicken' has sparked amused reactions from tennis fans. This was revealed to the Serb during a lighthearted segment conducted by the organizers of the ongoing 2024 Shanghai Masters. It also featured other stars such as Jannik Sinner, Casper Ruud, and Frances Tiafoe.

Djokovic is currently competing in the Shanghai Masters where he is the fourth seed. He received a bye in the opening round due to his seeding and kicked off his campaign by surviving the Alex Michelsen threat 7-6(3), 7-6(9).

The tournament's social media page recently posted a fun video featuring many top ATP stars such as Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and others, who reacted to their Chinese nicknames.

Among them was the 24-time Major champion, who seemed surprised to learn that his Chinese nickname was 'chicken'. However, when it was revealed that the Chinese used 'hot, in-form chicken' as a metaphor for someone considered a new sensation and was used for the Serb when he arrived on tour, it made sense to him and he thanked the Chinese fans.

Fans were left in splits by the World No. 4 player's initial reaction to his nickname and reacted to a clip of the segment shared by Tennis TV on X (formerly Twitter).

"Novak Djokovic was very, very offended," one said.

"🤣🤣🤣 Look at @DjokerNole face finding out his nickname by Chinese fans is 🐓😂 "New sensation" is the meaning, making sense in the end 😉," another wrote.

"Nole’s nickname in Chinese is chicken 😂 His reaction is priceless 😂❤️," a third fan tweeted.

Here are some other reactions from fans.

"Djokovic seemed almost offended at first," a fan said.

"@DjokerNole was like… hold up, ain’t nothing chicken about me and the way I handle my biz. 🤣 I already knew there had to be a deeper meaning anyway ‘cause ain’t no way. Glad he learned the meaning and that it suited him. ☺️ From Hot Chicken to Hot Pot! Works for me! 😆, " another tweeted.

"Nole got scared at first, took the "chicken" in an English way. Chinese are poetic souls, of course they gave him an ultimate nickname, nice 😎," one wrote.

Djokovic will face 28th seed Flavio Cobolli in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.

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Novak Djokovic will meet Flavio Cobolli in the third round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters

Novak Djokovic (Source: Getty)

This will be the first time Novak Djokovic will face Flavio Cobolli. The Italian also received a bye in the first round. He faced veteran Stan Wawrinka in his opening match and had to come back from a set down to eliminate Wawrinka (6)6-7, 7-6(4), 6-3. The winner of their match will play either 13th seed Frances Tiafoe or Roman Safiullin in the fourth round.

Djokovic is placed in the bottom half of the draw which also features second seed Alexander Zverev, seventh seed Taylor Fritz, and ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov, all of whom are still in the draw.