“Please have some respect,” the chair umpire pleaded as the hostile Paris crowd repeatedly booed Novak Djokovic during his second-round clash against home favorite Valentin Royer. But the noise didn’t stop, and neither did Djokovic. The Serbian brushed aside the atmosphere to comfortably take the opening two sets. However, tensions flared again in the third when Djokovic lost a crucial point. This time, the crowd erupted once more as the 24-time Grand Slam champion asked his opponent to apologize.

The tense moment came during one of Djokovic’s service games. Royer managed to get a return back that clipped the net cord before dropping over, eventually helping the Frenchman win the point.

In tennis, it is usually considered customary to offer a quick apology after benefiting from such a lucky break. However, Royer instead celebrated the point with pumped fists, something that clearly didn’t sit well with Djokovic. The Serb immediately gestured for an apology from the Frenchman, who eventually offered one moments later. The 39-year-old then responded with sarcastic applause toward Royer, a reaction that only triggered even louder boos from the Paris crowd.

Match commentator Jim Courier watched the entire episode unfold and jokingly remarked that Royer had “poked the bear”

Novak Djokovic was also visibly disrupted by the crowd while preparing to serve. The chair umpire eventually stepped in, asking fans to show equal support for both players. Even as the noise settled and Djokovic received some applause, he was heard shaking his head and saying, “No respect.”

On one hand, it’s well-known that Roland Garros crowds throw their support behind French players with real volume. Making the atmosphere feel sharper and more charged than at many other Slams. They do not just clap and move on. They boo, whistle, make noise between serves, toss out insults, and at least once, even gum, at the opponents of the home players. That kind of behavior is a big reason tournament organizers banned alcohol from the stands last year, and that policy is still in force. Though spectators can still buy and drink alcohol in the concourses and set-aside bar areas.

A few non-French players have felt that tension firsthand. Last year, rising star Jakub Mensík of the Czech Republic even compared the experience to a soccer match.

On the other hand, playing in hostile home atmospheres is nothing new for Djokovic. In the first round, he faced Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, with the crowd firmly backing the local favorite. The Serb struggled to create break chances against the big-serving Frenchman, while the audience reacted to every missed return. But as he so often does, Djokovic eventually turned things around, breaking serve and closing out the match in four sets. But Nole has long been used to this.

For instance, his 2023 Roland Garros campaign carried both dominance and drama. The Serb reached the fourth round in Paris for the 14th consecutive year, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-2. It looked routine on paper, but the atmosphere on Court Philippe Chatrier told a livelier story.

The second set proved to be the turning point. Novak Djokovic saved a set point and snatched the tiebreak, but the reaction from sections of the crowd clearly irritated him. Instead of soaking in the moment, he found himself pushing back against the noise around him.

“I think the majority of the people come to enjoy tennis or support one or the other player. But there are people that love to boo every single thing you do,” Nole said, “That’s something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don’t understand that. But it’s their right. They paid the ticket. They can do whatever they want. Actually 99% of the time I will stay quiet. Sometimes I will oppose that, because I feel when somebody is disrespectful, he or she deserves to have an answer to that.”

While it’s true that he maintains his composure, he has often found himself at odds with crowds during high-stakes matches in other tournaments as well. That pattern resurfaced again at Wimbledon in 2024, during his run to the quarterfinals.

On Centre Court, after a commanding 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Holger Rune to reach his 60th major quarterfinal and 15th at the All England Club, Novak addressed the crowd directly. The seven-time Wimbledon champion was in no mood to dilute his message.

“To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate it,” he said in his post-match interview, “And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player — in this case me — have a goooooooood night,”

Even when the interviewer suggested the noise was support for Rune rather than boos, the Serb stood firm. He leaned on experience, insisting he knew exactly what he had heard and felt in that moment.

“They were (booing). They were. I am not accepting it. No, no, no. I know they were cheering for Rune but that’s an excuse to also boo,” he explained, “Listen, I have been on the tour for more than 20 years. I know all the tricks, I know how it works. I focus on the respectful people who pay for the ticket, and love tennis and appreciate the players. I have played in much more hostile environments, trust me — you guys can’t touch me.”

Now, despite facing such a hostile crowd, Djokovic was not deterred in his mission of winning his match in his bid for a 25th Major title.

Novak Djokovic Wins a Hard-Fought Second Round Encounter at the French Open

Even with the crowd constantly in his ear, the Serb was keen on a quick, efficient win to avoid overexerting himself under the Paris heat and preserve energy for the later rounds. The match began exactly as he would have wanted, with early breaks helping him cruise through the first two sets.

But the third set brought a twist. Royer loosened up and began going for his shots, resulting in a wild sequence of four straight service breaks before the set eventually headed into a tiebreak. There, the Frenchman raised his level, even saving a match point against one of the best closers in tennis history, forcing the contest into a fourth set.

While the Frenchman sensed a comeback, Djokovic found a way to break Royer’s serve early and went ahead in the set.

To his credit, the Frenchman saved four more match points and even had a break point for himself, but Djokovic held firm amid the noise to secure the victory after 3 hours and 44 minutes.

The Serb will now face either Joao Fonseca or Dino Prizmic in the next round, and each option brings its own kind of challenge for Novak Djokovic at the French Open.

Fonseca would arrive with the backing of a passionate Brazilian crowd behind him, while Prizmic carries recent confidence after beating Djokovic at the Italian Open, making either matchup a tricky hurdle in the Serb’s path forward.