Tennis
Clare Balding delivers perfect response to Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon rant
Novak Djokovic walked out of a BBC interview earlier this week and presenter Clare Balding cracked a cheeky joke about the tennis star ahead of his Wimbledon semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti
BBC presenter Clare Balding aimed a cheeky dig at Novak Djokovic when discussing his upcoming semi-final match at Wimbledon.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner is set to take on Lorenzo Musetti after the Italian beat Taylor Fritz in five sets on Wednesday, while Djokovic received a bye into the semi-finals after Alex de Minaur pulled out of their quarter-final clash with a hip injury.
The match against Musetti will be Djokovic’s first since he unleashed a furious rant against the centre court crowd, accusing them of “disrespect” during his win over Holger Rune. Djokovic believed some fans were booing him, but they appeared to actually be shouting “Ruuuuuune” in support of his opponent.
“To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate it,” he said. “And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player (in this case me) have a goooooooood night.”
The Serb also walked out of an interview with the BBC after being asked a series of questions about the incident. And Balding referenced Djokovic’s reaction while discussing Musetti’s win over Fritz with pundits Tim Henman and Nick Kyrgios.
“To run away with the fifth set, I want to say it will give him a lot of confidence going into the semi-finals but he faces the seven-time champion,” Henman said of Musetti’s upcoming clash with Djokovic.
Balding then responded: “He is up against a man who has been running up hills today – we’ve seen Novak Djokovic running up a very steep hill. I’ll show you that in a second because I’d love to hear what you think. My one fear for this is Novak Djokovic faces a man called Muuuuusetti!”
Balding’s reference to the “Ruuuuuune” chants drew wry chuckles from both Henman and Kyrgios. Djokovic will enter the semi-final as a heavy favourite and Kyrgios believes the fact he did not have a quarter-final match will be a huge boost for the 37-year-old.
“I think today having that day off for Novak and tomorrow really helps his chances,” the Australian said. “Anytime you get a day off playing best of five, you’re going to take it.”
The other semi-final will see Daniil Medvedev take on defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s tournament by beating Djokovic 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in an epic five-set final that lasted four hours and 42 minutes.
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