Novak Djokovic in X-rated outburst after mistakenly believing fan had broken Australian Open rule

NOVAK DJOKOVIC had an X-rated outburst after thinking a fan had broken a rule during the Australian Open.

The Serbian tennis star eased into the second round of the tournament with a 4-1 win over Dino Prižmić.

Reuters

Novak Djokovic was distracted by fans moving around in the stadium[/caption]

AP

The tennis star launched an X-rated outburst at spectators[/caption]

During the match, Djokovic, 36, was heard shouting, “Shut the f**k up” at some of the spectators who were moving around.

Fans were moving around due to a rule change that allowed them to move from seats between games.

Usually, the crowd have to wait until the change of ends to come in and out of the stadiums.

However, this is not the case at the Australian Open, with fans given more freedom as Djokovic later admitted to not being aware of the rule.

He said: “I did not know about that new policy or new rule.

“Look, I mean, I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right?

“We do play for fans. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience of being out on the court.

“It’s hard, I must say. I understand that and I support it to some extent, but at the same time all my career, all my life I’ve been used to some kind of atmosphere.”

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The world No.1 also insisted that the rule change caused the game to “drag” on.

“When that changes, it kind of messes up, distracts you a bit.

“Today we lost quite a bit of time when they were letting people in to come to their seats, even though it was not a changeover.

“My opponent would wait for them to sit down. It dragged a lot.

“I don’t know if it’s really the best rule, but I do understand from a tournament and fan perspective it’s probably better because they don’t want to wait. They want to come out and enjoy every single point.

“I’m kind of divided between the two in a way.”

Jordan Thompson also discovered the new rule while he was on court during his game against Aleksandar Vukic.

The Australian labelled the tournament as the “wokest ever”.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray suffered a first-round exit as he was beaten by Tomás Martín Etcheverry.