Novak Djokovic will take on Adrian Mannarino in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open 2024 not before Saturday, January 20, 9 PM ET. While many Djokovic supporters will be delighted seeing the defending champion’s progress, a large part of the tennis community was awaiting a potential Djokovic vs Shelton clash in the competition. Recently, the World No.1 gave an interview with L’Equipe in which he slammed Ben Shelton for his disrespectful behavior in their US Open 2023 semifinal match. And yesterday, Djokovic again took a shot at Shelton indirectly by claiming that he himself was not as arrogant in his younger days.
Djokovic was exactly quoted as saying about having some sort of line not to cross between confidence and disrespect towards senior opponents –
“But there is obviously some kind of line, non-visible line, of acceptable behavior I guess towards the other player. If a player steps over that line, then obviously it starts being annoying. That’s when you react or you don’t react, whatever. It just depends.”
Djokovic says Roger Federer didn’t like the way he behaved, but he never lacked respect.
He also says he doesn’t mind Ben Shelton’s confidence, but there has to be a ‘non-visible line of acceptable behavior’
“When you first came on tour, you had a big personality & were very… pic.twitter.com/2K3o6yNIHV
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 19, 2024
The most interesting part was that Novak Djokovic brought up Roger Federer too in the conversation in the post-match interview. One journalist firstly asked Djokovic to comment on a potential clash with Shelton, but the Serbian knew that at that moment, the American was knocked out by Mannarino and had a short answer to that. However, after that, to slam the 20-year-old’s behavior, he gave his own example, stating that Roger Federer did not like him at all at the start of his career.
However, these words have not gone down well with many tennis lovers and neutrals alike. They believe that it is sort of ironic and hypocritical of Djokovic out of all players to be talking about respect since they cited examples of how he himself crossed the line on many occasions since the beginning of his career. Presumably, many Roger Federer fans jumped into the debate and claimed that the 10-time Australian Open champion will never gain the universal adulation their favorite player has received.
Djokovic has also been slammed for unnecessarily dragging Federer into the conversation, claiming that it is a cheap shot at him more so when the player has already retired. Many users also mocked Djokovic by claiming Shelton too lives rent-free in his head. Here are some fan reactions from X –
Roger only had a problem with Novak is because Novak’s family literally started shouting “king is dead” at Roger after Novak beat him for the first time. There’s a big context behind why Roger didn’t like Novak initially.
— lis_03 (@lis_1090) January 19, 2024
Novak showed disrespect towards Alcaraz leading up to the Wimbledon Final 2023. And he didn’t change his tone until he got humbled on court and made to cry like a baby.
— Carla RN, BSN, MHA (@carlasspaces) January 19, 2024
Somehow this guy would like to bring Roger into his conversation. No matter what he achieves, he will never receive the universal adulation and love that Roger received.
— Sundar Rajan (@srajan57) January 19, 2024
Just move on, cetnik! Roger Federer is rent free in your head. Even the fans at the final vs Alcaraz in Wimbledon didn’t cheer for you.
And don’t forget, you will never be so great as Federer is!
— amiraze77 (@aze77) January 19, 2024
Roger Federer is a super cool headed gentleman. If he doesn’t like your behavior, surely you must have crossed the “non-visible line of acceptable behavior”.
— lime (@LimeLemonade75) January 19, 2024
Djokovic should care of Kosovo people rather than Federer.
He knows Kosovo people suffer from Serbia of Djokovic.
He is hypocrite.— Mile Stone (@SamVerse2) January 19, 2024
You never cared to Roger. Don’t think you were so special to him, specially when your family was the one always talking bad about Federer
— GiuStyle HD (@GiuStyleHD) January 19, 2024
As for @BenShelton what happened was before their uso match Shelton taunted @DjokerNole in the locker room saying Fedal were greater. Its what sends Djokovic mad. Its what the heckler said the other day as well
— goldenslamdal3 (@goldenslamdal3) January 20, 2024
no matter how much grand slam you won, you can never win people’s heart like Roger did, you are pathetic Novak.
— Redarmy (@tiebreakset) January 19, 2024
Djokovic is a good player, however he’s also a sore loser. Fed or Rafa never acted like this during their careers. Let’s get over this guy, the younger players are more humble and deserve the attention. Djoker, go fuck yourself.
— IZDC (@djizdc) January 20, 2024
How Djokovic has opened up about rivalries with Federer and Nadal after breaking their records
The Federer vs Djokovic debate continues to rumble on in the tennis world even as the 20-time Grand Slam champion quit in 2022. Recently, in an interview with a Spanish publication, Rafael Nadal said that he prefers Roger Federer over Novak Djokovic when it comes to the player who moved him the most emotionally as well as making a huge impact on him with his style of play.
It is no surprise then that Djokovic recently said in the same interview about Shelton that Federer and Nadal united against him for the first time in 2011 when the Serb openly stated that he was ready to usurp them as World No.1. The Serb believes that there can be no ‘love triangle’ in real life, accusing the duo of indirectly being insecure and fans of hyping up the Federer-Nadal rivalry more than those of his with the two of them.
In 2023, Djokovic also stated in another interview that Nadal and Federer were against joining PTPA and misunderstood him completely. He is of the belief that he respects them professionally, but could never be friends with either of them.
