It’s been a rough week or so for Wimbledon.
With a combination of no Andy Murray and plenty of World Cup, people outside the tennis circle have struggled to even feign interest in the Grand Slam this year.
Now, British tennis fans may not even bother watching into the second week following Kyle Edmund’s defeat to Novak Djokovic.
The three-time champion defeated the British No.1 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round at SW19.
However, while Djokovic was undeniably pleased with recovering from going a set down to win in four, the Serb was less enamoured with the Wimbledon crowd who, according to him, coughed and whistled as he was preparing to serve.
“I thought the crowd’s reaction was quite unnecessary. A couple of guys pretending they were coughing and whistling while I was bouncing the ball more or less to the end of the match at that end where I received the time violation,” said Djokovic.
“Those are the things obviously that people don’t get to see or hear on the TV. I just think it’s not necessary. That’s what I didn’t like.”
There was controversy in the Edmund v Djokovic match…#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/IkBA8lOlYj
— BBC Tennis (@bbctennis) July 7, 2018
Djokovic’s fractious relationship with the crowd was not helped by the 31-year-old cupping his ear in their direction after he had disposed of Edmund.
Djokovic was left furious being denied a break of serve in the fourth set when the ball bounced twice before Edmund hit what was ruled a winner, only adding to the tension inside Centre Court.
“I’m a human being like anybody else, I can feel the pressure as everybody else,” Djokovic said.
“My interaction with the crowd, I thought had good things and not that great things. I just reacted the way I thought it was fair, the way they reacted to me.”
Djokovic will now face Russian Karen Khachanov for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday.
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