Novak Djokovic lashes at fan in Monte Carlo to ‘shut the.....’ in wild tennis meltdown

World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic was not having an excellent time in Monte Carlo on Saturday night (AEST). However, the renowned tennis player from Serbia continued to struggle in 2024 after being eliminated by Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Notably, the world number one was ousted 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 by the tenth-ranked Norwegian, who earned her first victory against the record 24-time Grand Slam winner in six tries. Ruud claimed the opening set following Djokovic losing two of his first three service games, indicating an unfavourable beginning to the match.

Meanwhile, Djokovic lost to Casper Ruud in the semifinals, thus ending his 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters career. In the final set, the Serb pulled a piece of string at a fan after an intense argument. Even after the heated exchange, Novak Djokovic did not receive a warning, which outraged many in the tennis community, including Andy Roddick. 

"Shut the f*ck up," he yelled.

Novak swore three times and didn't get one warning: Roddick

The Dane received a warning following a time violation in the second match of his quarterfinal clash with Jannik Sinner. The boos that followed from the crowd exacerbated the flames. Rune received an "unsportsmanlike" behaviour caution from the chair umpire as he used his hands to indicate for them to stop talking. The tennis community disapproved of the choice, with many stating that a gesture like that wasn't worth a warning. Andy Roddick highlighted the problem by stating:

"Just generally surprising when Rune got called for pretty much nothing. Shouldn’t be controversial to suggest that someone gets a warning when they loudly tell the crowd to shut the f*ck up repeatedly …. Do you disagree?. I don't care who it is, Novak or anyone else, they should get a warning for swearing at the crowd. Novak swore three times and didn't get one warning" he wrote on X, responding to a fan.

Here is the tweet that has gone viral:

Don’t really care. Just generally surprising when Rune got called for pretty much nothing yesterday. Shouldn’t be controversial to suggest that someone gets a warning when they loudly tell the crowd to shut the fuck up repeatedly …. Do you disagree?

— andyroddick (@andyroddick) April 13, 2024