“I’ve known much more hostile environments” Novak Djokovic talks about the crowd in his comeback match at Monte-Carlo Masters
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Novak Djokovic
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic had a poor return to the Tour as he lost in 3-sets to World No. 40 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round of the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters. Fokina was racing away with the match before Novak applied brakes to delay the Spaniard’s victory but eventually, the defeat for him came. Fokina won the match 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-1 to oust the Serbian.
It was Fokina’s second Top-10 win and first win against any World No. 1 player. While Djokovic was certainly rusty and not at his usual best, it required a great effort from Fokina to keep the Serbian on the ropes during match as a little window of opportunity could have turned the match on its head as Novak showed it once again during the second set and in the tiebreaker as well.
While Novak and the crowds has always been an interesting story with some tournaments being pro-Novak and few others being against the Serbian booing and heckling him during the matches to throw off his focus and concentration. Post the defeat to Fokina, Novak was asked whether he felt the crowd against him as a few boos and jeers were heard, but the 20-time Grand Slam champion had a different take on the whole situation.
“To be frank, I had a completely opposite perception of what you say. I didn’t feel that they were against me. In fact, the public was very nice and welcomed me. They encouraged the two players when there were good points. He was leading from a double break, he was playing well. It didn’t affect me. Honestly, I’ve known much more hostile environments in my life, in my career. So that was good, I’m grateful to them for staying for three hours,” said Novak during his post-match press conference.
An early return to Belgrade for Novak Djokovic
With a second-round defeat in Monte-Carlo, Novak gets to make an early exit from Monaco and head back home Belgrade for the next week’s 2022 Serbian Open where he will again be the top-seed as he continues to hold the narrow lead over injured Daniil Medvedev who sits in the second place behind Novak.
With Medvedev out for the Clay season with a massive doubt over the 2022 French Open participation of his, Novak can bear these early exits and prepare himself for the remaining season as he moves closer to breaking Steffi Graf‘s record of 377 weeks with Novak currently in his 363rd.
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