Kyle Edmund Plays Down Djokovic's Claims Of ‘Unfair’ Crowd Behaviour At Wimbledon - UBITENNIS

Kyle Edmund Plays Down Djokovic’s Claims Of ‘Unfair’ Crowd Behaviour At Wimbledon

The world No.17 has spoken out about the incident at The All England Club.

By Adam Addicott
3 Min Read
Kyle Edmund (zimbio.com)

British No.1 Kyle Edmund has responded to Novak Djokovic’s allegation that the crowd at Wimbledon was ‘slightly unfair’ to him during their third round match.

On Saturday the two players engaged in a tense four-set clash, which was won by Djokovic. During the match, the former world No.1 was subjected to some controversial behaviour from the crowd. After receiving a code violation for taking too long between points, there was an almighty cheer. He was also subjected to booing and heckling during certain parts of the match.

“Today there were just some people, especially behind that end where I got the time violation, they kept on going, they kept on going, provoking. That’s something that I can tolerate for a little bit, but I’m going to show that I’m present, as well, that they can’t do whatever they feel like doing.” Said Djokovic.

Speaking about his opponents’ comments, 23-year-old Edmund has dismissed the hype surrounding Djokovic’s claims. Saying ‘It’s not really my job to get too much into that.’ Even though the Serbian stated that the crowd was more hostile at Wimbledon than previous years when he took on Andy Murray.

“I’m not aware of that. I mean, it’s not really my job to get too much into that. For me, I’m British. I’m playing in front of the British crowd. I’m just trying to soak it all in and enjoy it.” Said Edmund.
“I’ve played in Serbia. Serbian fans obviously supported Serbian players. That’s normal. I don’t really know. He’d (Djokovic) obviously have his opinion on it. For me, I just soaked it up and tried to enjoy it as much as possible.”

The unruliness amongst the crowd was aided by the timing of the clash. During the same afternoon, England beat Sweden 2-0 in the World Cup. Reaching the semifinals for the first time since 1990 and sending the nation into a frenzy. A peak 19.64M viewers watched the match, which is a 87.7% of the available TV audience in the UK.

“It was louder today (Saturday).” Edmund said of the crowd.
“If you’re losing, not playing very well, the crowd don’t start cheering for no reason. They obviously cheer and get into it because the match is in a good situation, it’s intense.
“Reasonably throughout the whole match, it was a good contest.”

Djokovic will return to action on Monday to play Karen Khachanov in the fourth round on Court One. Meanwhile, Edmund is scheduled to return to action at the Croatia Open in Umag later this month.

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