Novak Djokovic fires back at hostile French Open crowd after Valentin Royer net cord controversy explodes

Novak Djokovic walked into another loud night at the French Open, but things became tense when the crowd turned heavily against him during his second-round match against French player Valentin Royer. The Serbian star was booed several times inside Court Philippe Chatrier, forcing the chair umpire to step in and ask fans to “please have some respect.” Still, the noise continued throughout the match. Djokovic kept control on the scoreboard early, winning the opening two sets comfortably, but emotions rose again in the third set after a controversial point near the net.The moment came when Valentin Royer’s return clipped the net cord and dropped over for a lucky winner. In tennis, players usually give a quick apology after winning a point that way. Royer instead celebrated with fist pumps, which clearly upset Novak Djokovic. The 24-time Grand Slam champion immediately gestured toward the Frenchman, asking for an apology. Royer later gave one, but Djokovic sarcastically applauded back at him, leading to even louder boos from the Paris crowd. Commentator Jim Courier reacted to the scene by joking that Royer had “poked the bear.”Djokovic was also disturbed several times while serving, with fans making noise between points. The chair umpire tried calming the crowd and asked spectators to support both players fairly. Even after some applause followed, Djokovic was heard saying, “No respect.”Crowds at Roland Garros are known for loudly supporting French players, and Novak Djokovic has dealt with that atmosphere many times before. Last year, Czech player Jakub Mensik even compared the experience to a football crowd because of the constant noise and pressure from the stands. Tournament organizers had already banned alcohol inside seating areas after previous crowd incidents, though fans can still drink in other sections around the venue.This was not the first difficult crowd Novak Djokovic faced in Paris either. In the opening round, he played against Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and dealt with similar support for the home favorite. Djokovic still found a way through that match in four sets.The Serbian has spoken openly about crowd behavior before. During the 2023 French Open, after beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Djokovic said, “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. That’s something that I find disrespectful.”A similar scene happened again at Wimbledon 2024 after his win over Holger Rune. Djokovic directly addressed the crowd during his on-court interview and said, “To all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a goooooooood night.”Despite all the tension, Novak Djokovic stayed focused against Valentin Royer. After cruising through the first two sets, the match became tougher in the third as Royer started attacking more aggressively. The set went into a tiebreak after a run of service breaks, and Royer even saved a match point to force a fourth set.Still, Djokovic responded like a champion. He broke early in the fourth set and finally closed out the match after 3 hours and 44 minutes. Royer saved four more match points before the Serbian eventually finished the contest and moved into the next round, where he could face either Joao Fonseca or Dino Prizmic.