Novak Djokovic: Tennis Fans Lambast Martina Navratilova’s Genuine Tribute to the Serb at Laureus Awards

Published 04/22/2024, 9:41 PM EDT

Novak Djokovic is the Laureus Sportsman of the Year 2024! The Serbinator has won the award by beating out stars like Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Max Verstappen. No one would be happier than fans of the 24-time Grand Slam champion of the moment, who deserved the accolade. However, Djokovic fans are not happy with an “odd choice” chosen to talk about his accomplishments.

Djokovic’s accomplishments from 2023 were bound to take him to his fifth Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award. The Serbinator worked hard for it, and Navratilova stepped up to talk about the reason why he was being honored for the award. While the tennis world celebrated, Djokovic fans were perturbed by Navratilova’s appearance.

A user posted, “Navratilova to talk about Djokovic on an occasion like is an odd choice.” Another agreed with the original post and said that Navratilova was a horrible choice for this. “Couldn’t agree more.. what a horrible choice. 😞”.

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One fan said that they could not let the limelight shine on the “Djoker” and had to find a way to dampen it. “💯 they had to try to ruin it somehow”.

Martina Navratilova and Novak Djokovic don’t have the best track record of being friends. Another fan showed their surprise that Navratilova talked about the glorious year of Djokovic despite the problems between them. “Absolutely. I don’t know how she agreed to talk considering the animosity she showed towards Novak. Monika Seles would be a good choice.”

Another fan of the Djoker said that they should have asked someone who likes the Djoker. “Agree. I’m sure they could have got someone that really appreciates Nole. Not that sour puss.”

As one user continued the tone of the argument, they also shared the names of those who would have been much better. “Yep Navratilova, Roddick, Stubby and Co, should call in sick or something 🙄 We have Boris Becker, McEnroe and more 😊🤗”.

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Remember this year’s Australian Open? The World No. 1’s title defense got off to a shaky start with a first-round set loss to teenager Dino Prizmic. But Djokovic found his form, eventually facing a fan confrontation during his hard-fought victory over Alexei Popyrin. This drew some accusations from Martina for the Serb.

Novak Djokovic accused of creating drama and ‘picking’ on Australian Open fan

Navratilova, one of the members of both the Laureus Academy and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, raised an interesting theory, suggesting Djokovic’s on-court intensity could be fueled by a deliberate attempt to create “drama” with fans. Drawing a comparison to John McEnroe, Navratilova believes Djokovic might use outbursts and fan interactions to fuel his competitive fire.

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“He kind of reminds me of John McEnroe, creating a drama to get himself going,” she told the Tennis Channel Live podcast. “And sometimes, Novak does that with fans, he just picks on one and it gets him fired up. Immediately after, Martina explained the theory of how this negative encounters with the fans eventually works out for Novak.

“But you know, whatever works. Sometimes, when the crowd gets negative on you, he goes negative, but it works for him. At the end of the day, he wins most of those matches even though he looks like he’s losing it emotionally, you know. But he never loses a point because of that, I think it just gives him extra energy.”

Well, how well do you like Novak Djokovic’s this year’s Sportsman of the Year win?

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Written by:

Ripunjay Gaba, a tennis enthusiast-turned-journalist at EssentiallySports, found his way from freelance sports journalism to the publishing house in ES. Here, his writing canvas encompasses the game specifics while finding poetic resonance in covering major sporting events. Ripunjay, a perpetual upgrader, uses avid reading to bring varied flavor to his Tennis reporting.

Edited by:

Deepanshi Bajaj

Novak Djokovic: Tennis Fans Lambast Martina Navratilova’s Genuine Tribute to the Serb at Laureus Awards

Novak Djokovic accused of creating drama and ‘picking’ on Australian Open fan

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