Novak Djokovic gets ‘undeserved hate’ according to one of his biggest rivals

Novak Djokovic has struggled to win over a bulk of tennis fans for most of his career, yet world No 3 Alexander Zverev has told Tennis35 that the most successful player of all-time has been forced to deal with ‘undeserved hate’ over the course of his career.

Speaking to this website at an exclusive Adidas event as they launched The London Originals Collection, Zverev revealed that Djokovic is one of the most generous players on the men’s tour, with his advice forthcoming for rivals as well as those emerging through the ranks.

Despite the respect he commands in the locker room, Djokovic has been lambasted by tennis fans over the years, with boos as common as cheers for the most successful male player of all-time.

Djokovic has been booed at Wimbledon, at the US Open and most recently following his withdrawal against Zverev at this year’s Australian Open, where he was forced to quit their semi-final after the first set due to a leg injury.

Zverev suggested that the reaction from the Melbourne crowd was misplaced, as he argued the 24-time Grand Slam champion deserves more respect than he gets from tennis fans.

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“People in the crowd paid for tickets and they want to see a battle probably between us with four hours, five hours, you know, going to distance,” Zverev told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview, as he looked back on a day that saw Djokovic booed as he left the court in Melbourne.

“But at the end of the day, he won that tournament 10 times. He won it with injury, he won a term on different occasions, with different problems.

“If he said that he can’t play a semi-final with Grand Slam, that means he can’t play a semi-final with Grand Slam.

“So I think he gets a lot of undeserved hate. Obviously, Roger and Rafa are probably two of the most loved athletes of all time, right? They’re probably both in the top 10 of the most-loved athletes of all time.

“
And Novak was spoiling the party a lot for the fans. But you know, all I can is Novak is genuinely a good guy.”

Zverev went on to reveal Djokovic’s eagerness to offer advice, with that generosity on display as Zverev practiced with the seven-time champion at the All England Club ahead of his latest bid to win a first Wimbledon title.

“Yesterday I practiced with him and I was asking him questions about my service and I was asking questions about the return and what he was focusing on.

“You might think he is five or six in the world and I’m No 3 in the world and we might be competing at Wimbledon at some point, so he might not want to answer my questions.

“But he is so generous and he took his time to answer and to give me suggestions. I’m not sure anybody else in the world will do that to a direct competitor of his.

“He’s so generous when his answers. He actually takes his time and thinks about everything before he gives you an honest answer. 
I’m not sure anyone else in that world would do that.”

Alexander Zverev spoke exclusively to Tennis365 at the launch of the new Adidas The London Originals Collection

Plenty of tennis experts have written off Djokovic’s chances of winning a 25th Grand Slam title and moving ahead of Australia’s Margaret Court in the all-time list of major winners.

That theory was crushed as he Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open and Zverev at the French Open, but the German believes stringing match wins together against the game’s top players may be tough at the age of 28.

“I do believe that playing goes back-to-back maches will be more difficult for him, but having a one-off for him is okay,” he added.

“I mean, he beat Carlos in Australia, he beat me at the French. I think we’re both quite good players on those surfaces still. I think backing it up is maybe a bit more difficult.

“You saw it in Australia, you pulled out against me to set and then against Jannik, maybe he didn’t play his best tennis, apart for the third set. In a one-off match, he can still beat anyone in the world. And I’m sure about that.”

We have lots more from our exclusive interview with Alexander Zverev in the coming days.

READ MORE: Wimbledon men’s singles draw: Djokovic, Sinner, Draper all in top half, Alcaraz handed kinder draw

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