Top tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou stated that Novak Djokovic was hated by the crowds because he used to beat their favourites, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Djokovic emerged as one of the best players during Federer and Nadal’s peak years and dethroned the two with time.
He is also ahead in head-to-head records against both of them. Djokovic narrowly leads Nadal 30-29 but his lead against Federer, who is now retired, is significant, 27-23.
“Rafa [Nadal] and Roger [Federer] were the biggest superstars of tennis, but Novak came in and beat both of them and the crowds hated him for that,” Mouratoglou said at the UTS London.
Mouratoglou then stated that Djokovic likes to get booed because he has the ability to thrive under tough conditions.
“I think he is booed for other reasons as well. He [Novak Djokovic] says he doesn’t like this negativity, but sometimes he pushes the crowd to boo him because it helps him during the matches. What we should not forget is he has 14 million followers on Instagram, and he is a huge hero in Serbia.
“He is the biggest name in tennis and we will all miss him when he stops playing the sport," he added.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam winner, has also often said that he likes to play when the crowd is against him. In a recent interview on CBS News, the Serb stated that hostile environments get the best of him.
“The amount of pressure and stress is so much higher if you have the crowd against you,” Novak said.
“Absolutely. But (laugh) for most of my career, it was mostly hostile environments for me. I kind of learned how to thrive in that environment. And people think that it’s actually better if, if they don’t like me so that it kind of gets the best out of me in terms of tennis.
“It did happen. But at the same time, I actually enjoy more (laugh) being in an environment where, you know, I have nice, nice support.”
