Djokovic shouts "come say that to my face" as he confronts heckler at Open
Novak Djokovic endured a fiery exchange with an Australian Open spectator during his clash with Alexei Popyrin - and furiously shouted "come say it to my face".
The world number one tennis star prevailed three sets to one against the home favourite but saw tensions rise with the score at 2-2 in the final set. As the Serbian star approached the back of the court, he got into an animated exchange with a heckler that saw him repeat his challenge a number of times.
The 36-year-old enjoyed a difficult relationship with a partisan Melbourne crowd, but was nevertheless able to secure his place in the third round of the first Grand Slam of the year. While disappointed with the crowd interaction, Djokovic remained unperturbed to secure the fourth set 6-3 to see out the match.
The 24-year-old Popyrin overcame fellow Australian Marc Polmans to set up the clash with Djokovic. The world number 44 tested his counterpart to draw the match level at one set apiece before narrowly losing out in a third set tie break.
Being interviewed after the match, the 10-times Australian Open champion and current holder of the title, made it clear he was frustrated with the atmosphere. Safe to say, Djokovic did not appreciate the heckling.
Novak Djokovic won Australian Open despite playing with major hamstring tear
He said: "Not the best atmosphere to play in, to be honest. People basically made noise between the first and second serve the entire match.
"What really frustrated me is when somebody heckles me in the crowd. I told him to say it to my face but there was an absence of courage in that moment."
Djokovic will next face Tomas Etcheverry in the third round of the competition. The 24-year-old Argentine dispatched Gael Monfils in straight sets in his second round match in Australia.
Novak Djokovic got into a tense exchange with a member of the crowd in his Australian Open clash (Eurosport)The pair have faced off just twice before in Rome and Paris last year. On both occasions Djokovic won in two straight sets. Etcheverry also ended Andy Murray's tournament aspirations. The five-time Australian Open finalist fell in straight sets in the first round of the competition.
The Scottish tennis legend was visibly disappointed with that result and hinted the end of his career could be close. He said: "I have an idea of what I would probably like to finish playing. Yeah, so much of that depends on how you're playing. The time frame for that narrows when you play and have results like today.
"Look, I know that Tomas is a really, really good player. I'm aware of that. Even if I play well today, I can still lose the match. It's just the nature of the performance that makes you question things. I haven't gained in belief from today's match that at some stage I'm going to start playing really well again or winning tournaments or getting to the latter stages of major events."
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