It was more difficult than expected. After four sets, Djokovic defeated Jacob Fearnley (6:3, 6:4, 5:7, 7:5). After the British won a set, he demanded that one fan be kicked out of the stands of the "Central Terrain".

The cameras did not record what exactly happened, but the assumption is that he insulted Novak, which Novak talked about after the match.

When he finished the duel with Firnley, he headed towards that part of the stands, however... "He didn't want to look at me when I spoke to him, he was looking at his phone with his head down. Situations that are undesirable happen to me almost every match. In 95 percent of cases, I tolerate it," Djokovic said and added:

"It's something that's completely normal. People came to watch tennis, they paid the ticket, they're passionate, they want the opponent to win... It's a matter of personal choice and their right. However, when someone crosses the line of sportsmanship - I react. I have been like that always and plan to remain so for the rest of my career. I will not allow anyone to provoke, humiliate and belittle me. I will look everyone in the eye and sleep peacefully."

b92.sport/DĐ

Usually, in such situations, Novak tries to tolerate as much as possible.

"When I oppose someone, it's interesting how the vast majority, almost everyone, just put their heads down. Everyone is brave when the attention is not on him or her", Djokovic concluded.

“I hope as the tournament progresses I’ll feel better,” Djokovic said. “I don’t know if I was comfortable in my own skin in the third and fourth. You have rough days when you’re not feeling your best''.

“The muscles around my knee are getting sore more than usual because they're compensating and protecting the knee, which is normal. They're also not really giving me the dynamic speed and power that I need. Kind of late on the balls that I'm normally not late on''. 

“I should have done some things better in the third when I was a break up, and a bit lucky in the fourth not to go a break down. Potentially the match deserved to go into a fifth set the way Jacob played – but I’m very glad it didn’t”, Djokovic concluded in an on-court interview.