‘Tell it to my face’: Novak Djokovic responds to heckling fan during Australian Open win over Alexei Popyrin

It wasn’t pretty, but Novak Djokovic booked his spot in the 2024 Australian Open third round on Wednesday, beating Australian home favorite Alexei Popyrin in four sets 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 in a hard-fought affair.

Novak Djokovic was tested on the court in a tough second-round Australian Open win over home favorite Alexei Popyrin, but the Serb was also riled by at least one member of the crowd. During his 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 victory, Djokovic confronted a heckling spectator and told the fan in question to come down and to say what he wanted to say to his face. “I mean, you don’t want to know,” Djokovic said when asked by reporters what the heckler said to him. “There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court, particularly from that corner and the same side the other corner. “I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had enough, and I asked him whether he wants to come down and tell it to my face. “When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down … if you’re such a tough man, tough guy, come down and tell it to my face, and let’s have a discussion about it. “He was apologizing from far away. That’s all it is.”