Although thousands of people are quick to criticize Novak Djokovic for his occasional outbursts on court, former WTA star Andrea Petkovic is pleased the Serbian is embracing his "villainous" role.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion has dealt with hostile crowds during his career, with the most recent instances occurring this year at Wimbledon, the US Open, the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals. The Serbian's actions have ranged from yelling in frustration to mocking the crowd, like he did against Jannik Sinner during their Wimbledon semifinal clash.
The atmosphere is tense now. Someone in the audience said something to Djokovic, who started arguing with the crowd. Sinner had two set points, wasting the second one and trying to break his racket against his thigh. Nole held and reacted like this. #Wimbledon
In a recent episode of The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, Petkovic spoke on why she approved of Djokovic embracing the villain role, and why she believes it took him so long to accept the persona.
“I have to say, I am so here for a villain era. Novak Djokovic, that’s all I ever wanted. That’s all I ever wanted of him,” said the retired German WTA star. “I always wanted him to take this role and be ‘f you’ to everyone. ‘I’m so much better than everyone and I’m going to own it. I’m going to yell at the audience. I’m going to blow kisses and people who try to disturb me, and I’m going to win it all.’
“That’s all I ever wanted from him. So I’m so happy he’s leaning into that villain era. I have said that forever. I think he didn’t want to embrace it because he thinks of himself as a better person, because he is. I’ve known him for such a long time, he’s a great person.
“But I always said, the quality of your human being is not the same as your tennis player persona. You can be the biggest a**hole as a tennis player – that’s nothing to do with who you are off the court. And I think he wants to believe in himself as being a good person, so that wouldn’t go together.
“And I think now he’s come to realize that, ‘my tennis player persona is my tennis player persona, and Novak is Novak – this has nothing to do with each other.’ So I think he’s much more able to embrace that, ‘I’m going to show you. I don’t care if everyone is against me."
