Djokovic: "Crowd supports Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but I'm not hated"

Novak Djokovic won 17 Grand Slam titles (third all-time behind Roger Federer's 20 and Rafael Nadal's 19), winning eight Australian Open (absolute record), five Wimbledon, three US Open and a Roland Garros. He triumphed on five occasions (including four in a row, absolute record) at the ATP Finals at the end of the year.

At the 2020 ATP Cup, Djokovic helped Serbia win its first title by scoring six victories including wins over Medvedev in the semifinal and Nadal in the final. At the 2020 Australian Open, he defeated long time rival Roger Federer in straight sets en route to the final where he defeated three-time grand slam runner-up Dominic Thiem in five sets.

This is Djokovic's 8th win at the Australian Open, making him the first Open Era male player to win Grand Slam titles in three different decades. For his 17th Grand Slam win he received 2.5 Million Euro as prize money.

In an expansive press conference, The Serbian talked about the fact that when he plays Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, majority of the crowd backs his opponent: “A lot has been written about how I am not loved. My personal impression is that I have a lot of support and sympathy for me.

When I play Federer or Nadal, crowd supports them but that doesn’t mean that I’m hated and that I should turn whole of Serbian public against the world. I don’t like those stories ‘Serbia against the World. Sometimes I get distracted, I have outbursts, is it the crowd, umpire, wind etc. I admit that and I’m not proud of that, but I’m a human being that makes mistakes, and I try to become better every day.” 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2V7jua0