"The crowd’s reaction was unnecessary... they kept going, kept provoking" - When Novak Djokovic was furious with Wimbledon crowd for heckling him

Novak Djokovic was furious with the Wimbledon crowd for heckling him during his third-round match against home favorite Kyle Edmund. This incident took place in 2018.

Djokovic, the No. 12 seed, was aiming for his first title win in 12 months. He started his campaign at the Grasscourt Major with a dominant win over Tennys Sandgren, followed by a victory against Horacio Zeballos, setting up a clash with Edmund, who had defeated Alex Bolt and Bradley Klahn.

Djokovic faced a tough battle against Edmund, who took the first set. However, the Serb rallied to win the next three sets, clinching the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. The crowd's reaction turned heads when they heckled Djokovic after he received a time violation while serving at 3-2 in the third set.

The Serb wasn't at all happy with the hostility of the audience, mentioning that their reaction was "quite unnecessary."

"It was a Davis Cup-like atmosphere. I expected them to support Kyle, obviously. But at times they were slightly unfair to me. That’s how it goes," he said.

"I thought the crowd’s reaction after (the time violation) was quite unnecessary. A couple guys really, you know, pretending they were coughing and whistling while I was bouncing the ball more or less to the end of the match," he added.

Djokovic then drew a comparison to his matches against another Brit, Andy Murray, during the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 Wimbledon final, pointing out that the atmosphere was distinctly different on those occasions.

"It was not like this, definitely. No, the crowd was very fair when I played against Andy [Murray]. Obviously they support their player. There’s nothing you can say about that," the Serb said.

"But today there was just some people, especially behind that end where I got the time violation, they kept on going, they kept provoking. I’m going to show that I’m present, as well, that they can’t do whatever they feel like doing," he added.

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Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon 2018 even after facing opposition from the crowd

Novak Djokovic pictured with Wimbledon 2018 trophy

Novak Djokovic won his 13th Grand Slam title at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships by defeating Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. He also became the second lowest-ranked player (World No. 21) to lift the trophy at SW19 since his former coach, Goran Ivanisevic, in 2001.

On his way to the championship match, Djokovic registered wins against Tennys Sandgren, Horacio Zeballos, Kyle Edmund, Karen Khachanov, Kei Nishikori, and the No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal.