Novak Djokovic silenced British fans after leading Serbia to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup by beating Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday (November 23) in Malaga, Spain.
Djokovic has a history of dealing with hostile crowds and this incident was not something new for the 24-time Grand Slam winner.
Serbia won 2-0 as Miomir Kecmanovic beat Jack Draper 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) in the first match of the best-of-three tie.
Djokovic was constantly disturbed by the fans and after claiming the first set, he celebrated by blowing a kiss to a British supporter who was jeering and did his trademark celebration by pointing towards his ear at the end of the match.
"You should learn how to show some respect," Djokovic told the fans.
"It's normal that sometimes fans step over the line and in the heat of the moment you react too, and in a way show that you don't allow this kind of behaviour," Djokovic said.
"They can do whatever they want, but I'm going to respond to that. That's what happened.
"I was trying to talk and they were purposely starting to play the drums so that I don't talk and they were trying to annoy me the entire match."
Djokovic’s convincing win puts him in the event’s semi-final where he will face Italy’s Jannik Sinner, whom he defeated in the ATP Finals just a week ago.
"Third time in a bit more than a week, it's gonna be great for tennis fans and for both Italian sports tennis fans and Serbia, and here also in Malaga," said Djokovic.
"We're kind of developing a nice rivalry lately.”
Italy beat the Netherlands 2-1 and Djokovic wasn’t shy to admit that he watched some matches of Sinner in singles and doubles.
"He's really confident and playing, as I said, some of the best tennis that we saw him play ever. I'm not playing bad myself. So it's going to be, I think, a great match,” he added.
Comments