Novak Djokovic 'deserves crowd support' says former British No.1

August 23, 2023

ATP Tennis Players, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News, US Open Tennis

Novak Djokovic ‘deserves crowd support’ claims former British No.1

Novak Djokovic is set to return to the US Open for the first time in two years, and former No.4 Johanna Konta believes that ‘crowd support’ for the Serb could spur him onto winning a historic 24th major title.

Djokovic missed the New York major in 2022 due to his Covid-19 vaccination status, but a rule change made back in May means that he is now able to return to the States.

The 36-year-old made a winning start in his US return, after beating Carlos Alcaraz to claim his third title at the Cincinnati Masters.

Forever a FIGHTER#CincyTennis | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/Si2ybIqrQC

— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 21, 2023

Djokovic faced a similar situation when returning to Australia this year, where he won the Adelaide International and a 10th Australian Open title, and Konta believes this will put him in good stead for the final major of the year.

“I think it’ll be absolutely fine. I think he’s faced those situations where in Australia, he wasn’t able to be in Australia last year either,” Konta told Express Sport.

She continued, “So I think it’s not going to be anything that he hasn’t come up against in this season and just the difficulties that he’s faced over the last couple of years with his restrictions. So I think overall I think he will just deal with it like the professional he is.”

Djokovic received lots of support during his US Open final defeat to Daniil Medvedev back in 2021, and Konta believes that it would be very beneficial for the Serb if the New York crowd were behind him once again.

“I think he loves it when the crowd is for him and bless him he’s probably one of the few players that doesn’t always get that crowd support that maybe he deserves and that he probably wants,” claims Konta. “So I think that when the crowd is for him, I do think he gives them a lot of positive energy so I’d like to think that it would help him on his conquest for 24.”

Djokovic will find out his US Open first round opponent when the draw is revealed on Thursday at 12pm (5pm BST), as he looks to equal Margaret Court’s record of winning 24 major singles titles.