Novak Djokovic\u2019s treatment during the Australian Open was \u2018out of order\u2019, according to Sky Sports Tennis lead presenter Gigi Salmon.<\/p>\n
Djokovic\u2019s tempestuous relationship with tennis fans around the world has been a theme throughout his career, as he has struggled to get the acclaim he might expect after a record-breaking career.<\/p>\n
With 24 Grand Slam titles to his credit, more weeks as world No 1 than any player in history and a host of additional records that will cement his legacy as the most successful male tennis player of all-time, the 37-year-old would have the right to demand some acclaim from tennis fans.<\/p>\n
Yet Djokovic was booed and jeered off court after he was forced to pull out of his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev due to a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
That reaction from the fans sparked a big debate over Djokovic\u2019s popularity battle, while a spat with Australian broadcaster Tony Jones also marred his time in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Jones mocked Djokovic and Serbian fans live on Channel 9 television, with the 10-time Australian Open champion refusing to do an on-court interview until the veteran presenter apologised for his jibes.<\/p>\n
Now Salmon has given her verdict on the Djokovic controversies, as she insisted the tennis icon should be treated better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disrespectful, it\u2019s awful,\u201d said Salmon, as she reflected on the constant negativity directed at Djokovic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the greatest of all-time and in some people\u2019s opinion the greatest, and they are booing him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has given everything and more to this sport and yet there is still this feeling of negativity towards him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put it (being booed off against Zverev) down to ticket holders spending a lot of money and being disappointed that the match ended early, but that was not an excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see he gave everything. Maybe someone who was sitting a long way back couldn\u2019t see what we could see, but our commentary box for that match was at ground level and we could see his movement was being affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was pushed out wide, we could see he was struggling. As he turned around, we could see his face and he was grimacing in pain. We knew he wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a surprise the way it ended. A volley into the net and suddenly the match was over, but when you look back at the story behind the injury and how he didn\u2019t train in the days before, you can understand it better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you look at the Channel 9 comments from Tony Jones they were out of order. I know people have different senses of humour in different countries, but as soon as I saw that I thought it was out of order and disrespectful.<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic identifies the player who will be the new face of men\u2019s tennis<\/a><\/p>\n Novak Djokovic\u2019s ranking, prize money, sponsors and his next tournament<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs we know, Novak Djokovic will stand up for himself and he did that. The apology came and we all moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n Salmon believes Djokovic has grown tired of his role as the \u2018disruptor\u2019 in men\u2019s tennis, as she suggests the acclaim he craves will only come when he ends his career.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is a feeling that he will be appreciated when he stops playing,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThat isn\u2019t fair in many respects, but I think there is total respect for what he has achieved and in some ways his arrival on the scene was too late.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople loved the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and this third guy as the disrupter. The fans have already divided up their loyalty and there was none left for Djokovic.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he embraced the role of being the baddie and then he wants to be loved. Maybe that will come when he stops playing and everyone sits back and says \u2018wow, that was an amazing career\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic has suggested his encouraging performances in Australia have fuelled the rest of 2025, with Salmon suggesting the win against Carlos Alcaraz was evidence that a 25th Grand Slam title can come for the Serbian legend.<\/p>\n \u201cDjokovic\u2019s performance in his win against Alcaraz shows the level is still there if the body allows him to get No 25,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Sky Sports is the home to more live tennis than anywhere else. Watch year-round action including the ATP and WTA Tours and US Open exclusively on Sky Sports and NOW.<\/i><\/p>\n READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic suffers a rankings blow as he prepares to return to action<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Novak Djokovic treatment \u2018out of order\u2019 as leading tennis voice describes abuse as \u2018awful\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic\u2019s treatment during the Australian Open was \u2018out of order\u2019, according to Sky Sports Tennis lead presenter Gigi Salmon. Djokovic\u2019s tempestuous relationship with tennis fans around the world has been a theme throughout his career, as he has struggled to get the acclaim he might expect after a record-breaking career. With 24 Grand Slam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}