"Painful to watch" says former pro Croft of fans treatment of Novak Djokovic

The popularity of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is something truly remarkable. Very few tennis players in history will ever be able to reach that level of popularity among fans and for Novak Djokovic, it's been something he never achieved. For former pro Annabel Croft it has been painful to watch at times:

“It has been painful to watch at times and I remember being at the US Open in 2015 when Novak was playing Federer and the entire crowd seemed to be again him. There was silence when he hit a winner and cheers when he missed and the courage he showed to win that match was remarkable."

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Croft futher explained:

“I was court-side and couldn’t believe that there were 20,000 people baying for his blood and hoping he would lose. It was cruel in many ways. This was like watching a gladiator out there getting torn to shreds by the crowd. It sends shivers down my spine recalling what it felt like and he didn’t flinch. He was so well prepared emotionally to deal with that, it was so impressive."

And the mental fortitude is something Djokovic is singled out as possibly being the best ever to do. Very few instances have happened when the Serbian crumbled under pressure which is what separates him from many of his contemporaries.