NOVAK DJOKOVIC walked out of his BBC interview after being bombarded with questions about the Wimbledon “booing” row.
The Serbian, 37, destroyed Holger Rune to reach his 16th quarter-final at the All England Club on Monday night.
But in his on-court interview, Djokovic hit out at the fans who made repeated “Ruuuune” chants – and was convinced they were booing him.
In an extraordinary rant, Djokovic said: “To all the fans that have respect and stayed tonight, thank you from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it.
“To all those people that have chosen to disrespect play and one player, in this case me, have a GOOOD-night. A GOOOD-night. A very good night.
“They were disrespecting me. I don’t accept it, no, no, no.
“I know they were cheering for Rune but that is also an excuse to boo.
“Listen, I have been on the tour for more than 20 years. So trust me, I know all the tricks, I know how it works.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s okay. I focus on the respectful people, those who have respect, who have the tickets to come to watch me tonight.
“Who love tennis, who appreciate the players and the effort put in.
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“I’ve played in much more hostile environments, trust me. You guys can’t touch me.”
Djokovic spoke to the BBC later on last night.
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But after three questions related to the incident, the seven-time winner had heard enough and decided politely to cut the chat short.
He said: “I don’t regret by words or actions on the court.
“Do you have any questions other than the crowd?
“I mean are you focused only on that or are there any questions about the match or is it solely focused on that?
“This is the third question already, I said what I had to say.”
The interview tried to ask about his quarter-final clash with Australia’s ‘honourary Brit’ Alex De Minaur.
But Djokovic added: “Yeah I look forward to it, it’s going to be a tough one. Thanks.”
With that, the tennis star got out of his chair and headed off – as the interview was left talking to himself.
On the court, the BBC’s Rishi Pershad had desperately tried to appease Djokovic by explaining the fans were rooting for Rune.
He said: “I’m hoping that they were just commenting on Rune and that they weren’t disrespecting you…”
But Djokovic was having none of it as he continued to slam the Pimm’s-fuelled British crowd.
While Persad’s explanation was echoed by many who had been on Centre Court for the match, the BBC presenter Sara Thornton felt Djokovic was right.
She posted on social media: “As I sat on Centre Court I thought there were some absolute jerks in the crowd booing Novak Djokovic using the disguise of the name Rune… and sadly it became infectious.
“But as a tennis fan, I’d say that was far outweighed by those delighting in the skilful play on both sides.”
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PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
