Jul 07, 2024 08:49 AM IST
After the Wimbledon match, Novak Djokovic joked about his act at the time of interruption
For the second time in a row, second seed Novak Djokovic incurred a wobble in the ongoing 2024 Wimbledon Championships, but overcame on both occasions. On Saturday, it was against Alexei Popyrin in the third round match, where Djokovic lost the opening set, before claiming victory to reach the round of 16 at the SW19. It was also his 50th win in a Grand Slam match after turning 35, as he became the third player in the Open Era to achieve the unique feat after Ken Rosewall (64) and Roger Federer (62).
During the match, Popyrin was interrupted when the Centre Court crowd at the All England Club suddenly erupted with loud cheers and applause, having learned that England had reached the semifinals of the ongoing Euro 2024. Gareth Southgate’s men beat Switzerland via penalty shootout to make the last four for the second time in a row.
Djokovic was initially startled while Popyrin pulled out of his service routine when he was 1-4 down in the second set, but both players saw the funny side to it as the Serb mimicked taking a penalty and the Aussie acted as goalkeeper.
“We’re just going to have to take a pause for a moment,” BBC commentator Andrew Cotter said as Popyrin was forced to wait for the crowd to calm down. Pat Cash replied: “I think the players know what’s going on.”
However, Cotter quickly added saying that both the players have no interest in the ongoing European Championships in Germany. “He’s Australian, he doesn’t care. Neither does Serbia. We’ve got a Scot and an Australian in the commentary box so we are absolutely ambivalent about the whole thing,” he joked.
After the match, Djokovic asked the presenter about the eventual score in the England game, before making hilarious statement on his mock penalty at the time of interruption.
“I assumed that it was a penalty shootout between England and Switzerland so I mean, it felt like for a set and a half the crowd really wanted to understand what the score is in the football match. Did England win in the end? That’s why you guys stayed! Yeah congrats. Congrats to England. I tried to shoot a penalty, I’m left-footed but Alexei defended it well,” Djokovic joked.