Tag: Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is kind of a jerk but he doesn’t deserve boos for being injured

Y’all really got me defending Novak Djokovic smh.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Happy Friday. You made it through the week.

Look, we all know how annoying Novak Djokovic can be. He’s tennis’ self-proclaimed “villain.” He’s thrown tantrum after tantrum throughout his career, trash-talked entire crowds of people, and he’s argued with umpires and so much more. That’s before we even get into all the vaccine stuff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dude is a great tennis player. He’s also just, generally, a jerk. It is what it is. That’s how he’s always been and that’s how he always will be.

But still, he didn’t deserve the boos he got from the Australian Open crowd after getting injured.

Djokovic retired early from his match against Alex Zverev. He’s been battling a nagging muscle tear in his leg, at least, since his match in the quarterfinals on Tuesday against Carlos Alcaraz. He confirmed it following his win earlier in the week.

He attempted to manage the injury for the semifinal but, obviously, it didn’t work. Whatever pain he was in worsened to the point where he had to retire early from the match after one single set.

The Australian Open crowd didn’t like it. So they booed. All Djokovic could do was give a thumbs-up on his way through the tunnel.

ZVEREV COMES TO HIS DEFENSE: He implored the crowd not to boo Djokovic after his exit.

That was such a cringey moment. It felt so unnecessary. Salute to Alexander Zverev for coming to his defense. He shouldn’t have had to do that. He also didn’t have to do it. But he did it, anyway. That’s awesome.

And, look, I get it. Djokovic is a jerk. He also left at a convenient time, just as the match seemingly got rolling. It was an injury he’d played through before, so people are likely questioning why he couldn’t do the same thing here.

But, regardless of how you feel about him or what you think about him bowing out, nobody — not even Novak Djokovic — deserves to be booed for being injured. You don’t have to like him. You can absolutely root against him. You can boo him when he’s healthy.

But booing someone when they’re hurt and can’t play? That’s wack, man. We’re better than that as a sports-viewing public. Or, at least, we should be, anyway.

Mark Andrews speaks

Everyone has been waiting for Mark Andrews to say something after dropping a potential game-tying catch on Sunday against the Bills. The Ravens would’ve had another shot to get to the AFC title game.

Instead, they’re at home and Andrews has to live with his mistake.

“WE’RE A TEAM”: Lamar Jackson consoles Mark Andrews after devastating drop

Andrews hasn’t spoken to the media about the play, but he did finally issue a statement via Instagram on Thursday.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFLjJEFz-es/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“Even though the shock and disappointment are unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, I refuse to let the situation define me,” Andrews said.

There ya go. That’s how you do it. Get back up off the turf and try it again next year. It’ll be a tough pill to swallow, but taking the challenge head-on is the best way to go about it.

Salute to Andrews for committing to that.

Ichiro is a better man than me

Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Because ain’t no way I’m sitting down and kicking it with my biggest hater.

He said that he wants to have a drink with the lone Hall of Fame voter who left him off of their ballot. Andrew Joseph has more here.

“Ichiro said that he would like to have a drink with that voter, which was a gracious approach to someone who honestly deserves to have their voting privileges revoked.

To this day, Mariano Rivera is the lone player to reach the Hall of Fame through a unanimous vote. Ichiro surely deserved to be the first position player to have that honor.

But really, you have to love that response from Ichiro. It was all class.”

Andrew is right. That’s super classy. Ichiro seems like a very nice, stand-up guy.

But, again, couldn’t be me.

Photo Friday: The other side of sports

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The anguish of sports is never celebrated, but it certainly exists. We see it plainly here through David Montgomery as he goes back to the Lions’ locker room after an upset loss against the Commanders.

Quick hits: Starters and snubs … The NBA in Paris … and more

— Here are the starters for the NBA All-Star game, including a surprising appearance from Jalen Brunson. This feels right.

— There are plenty of NBA All-Star snubs, though. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.

— Everybody pulled up to the NBA in Paris on Thursday. Fashion Week looks like a fun time. Here’s Meg Hall with more.

— Here are the best bets for NFL Conference Championship weekend from Christian D’Andrea.

— Here’s Robert Zeglinski with more on Amari Cooper’s selfless message despite his limited role with the Bills.

— Blake Schuster put together a fantastic explainer on why X and Meta links are no longer welcome on some subreddits. This is fascinating.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Happy Friday, Winners! Have a great weekend. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

Alexander Zverev did the classiest thing for Novak Djokovic after Australian Open boos

Really classy here.

It was a stunning moment in the 2025 Australian Open men’s semifinal on Friday.

Novak Djokovic surprised everyone when he retired due to injury after the first set of his match against Alexander Zverev, and surprisingly, some of the Open crowd booed. Maybe fans felt like they weren’t getting their money’s worth.

But Zverev had a message in his post-match interview: “Please, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury. I know that everybody paid for tickets and everyone wants to see, hopefully, a great five-set match, but you’ve got to understand: Novak Djokovic is somebody that has given this sport for the past 20 years absolutely everything of his life.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wfCtqloQfm8

So classy of him.

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Novak Djokovic classily applauded Carlos Alcaraz after Australian Open upset

Classy.

Carlos Alcaraz is out of the 2025 Australian Open, and it’s thanks to a legend.

Novak Djokovic was seeded seventh in the draw this year, and he faced Alcaraz — No. 3 in the tournament — in the quarterfinals at Rod Laver Arena.

But it was Djokovic who won in four sets, and as Alcaraz walked off after the loss, the crowd gave him a huge round of applause. That included Djokovic, as you’ll see.

Djokovic will face Alexander Zverev next in the semifinals on Friday. That should be something. In the meantime, here’s that classy moment from Tuesday’s quarterfinal that we all saw:

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Novak Djokovic is on the cusp of winning it all at Wimbledon after tearing his knee up a month ago

I can’t believe this is happening.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.

We’re partying like it’s 2008 again, apparently.

Novak Djokovic came into Wimbledon playing on a torn meniscus. The prevailing thought was, “Man, it’s nice to see him out there, isn’t it?” Now it’s, “Hey, uh, can he actually win this thing?” Day after day the answer seems to keep gravitating toward yes.

Djokovic just advanced to a record-tying 13th semifinal at the tournament after Alex de Minaur withdrew due to a hip injury. Djokovic gets a breezy advance to the final four.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Jannik Sinner lost to Daniil Medvedev in five sets on Tuesday, eliminating the world’s No. 1 player from the tournament. But now, after just getting by Sinner, Medvedev will have to play Carlos Alcaraz — the world’s No. 3 player. The bracket couldn’t have broken any worse for him.

Or, rather, it couldn’t have broken any better for Djokovic, who will see either Taylor Fritz (No. 13) or Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (No. 25) in his semifinal matchup. No opponent should be overlooked — especially with how Fritz has been playing lately. But there’s no question that this is an easier path for Djokovic, who almost didn’t even play in this tournament because of his knee.

We’re a long way away from Djokovic winning it all here, but if he does? It’d be one of the greatest accomplishments of his already illustrious career. He’s already shattered the career Grand Slams mark. Him doing the impossible here would just be another feature in his GOAT cap.

Hate him or love him, this dude is great. There’s no denying that.

Messi and Argentina make the Copa Finals

(Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)

Speaking of no denying, Lionel Messi and Argentina have landed a spot in the Copa América Finals after a 2-0 win against Canada. The Cinderella story is over courtesy of the GOAT.

Messi scored in the 50th minute of this match, putting to bed any questions about a miracle comeback for Canada in the late minutes of the game. It also happened to be Messi’s first goal in the tournament and might be the last ever in his Copa career.

Here’s Cory Woodroof with more:

“As Argentina faced off in the semifinals against a red-hot Canada team, Messi found the perfect lane to boot the ball in from a fair distance from the net.

It’s Messi’s first goal in the tournament, making this yet another edition of the Copa América where one of the greatest soccer players of all time registered a goal.

While we’re not sure if this is Messi’s last run with Argentina in the Copa América, we’re sure this excellent goal to give the team a 2-0 lead will be a special one for Messi and Argentina fans.”

Argentina will see a tough side in the final, with either Uruguay or Colombia advancing. But if they win the final, they’ll have won two back-to-back Copa titles with a World Cup sandwiched in between. That’d be an incredible feat with Messi steering the ship the entire way.

Did I mention the old men were running things again?

Oceans 11, but make it sports

This might be the wildest story you read today. Three guys pulled off a not-so-elaborate heist of $2 million in memorabilia from a stand run by Legacy Cardz at a sports card expo in Dallas.

Legacy’s owner, Ashish Jain, published footage of the caper. The three guys in hats distract his staff while a guy in blue snatches the briefcase.

The thieves knew precisely which briefcase to snatch. There were reportedly 170 cards inside, per The Athletic, including six 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards and two 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson.

This is wild. It almost feels like something you’d see in a movie — like all the Ocean’s movies, except for its sports instead of casinos.

There’s a $70,000 reward for information on the theft out there.

Quick hits: A list of things older than Lamine Yamal … WNBA Power Rankings … and more

— Lamine Yamal is an absolute star already … but he’s just 16 years old! Here’s Robert Zeglinski with a list of things that are older than him.

— Meg Hall has her latest WNBA Power Rankings out for you with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese absolutely hooping.

— Here’s Meg again with the heartwarming moment that Jayson Tatum and A’ja Wilson discovered they were cover athletes for NBA 2k25.

— Rece Hinds is giving us absolute MOON SHOTS with the baseball bat. Here’s Charles Curtis with more.

— Jack Gohlke is back in NBA Summer League. Tell Kentucky to watch out. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.

— And here’s Cory again with everything you need to know about the Receiver docuseries coming up on Netflix

Thanks so much for reading, folks! We appreciate you giving us your time today. Check back in for more tomorrow. Peace!

-Sykes ✌️

Russell Westbrook meeting Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon had NBA fans making the same Nikola Jokic joke

You got the wrong Serbian star, Russell Westbrook!

Part of the Denver Nuggets’ master plan to win two NBA titles in three seasons reportedly involves eventually signing Russell Westbrook. Unfortunately for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, Westbrook remains in a holding pattern with the Los Angeles Clippers.

That doesn’t mean the legendary point guard can’t spend his offseason hanging out with other Serbian star athletes for the time being.

As Novak Djokovic awaits a quarterfinal match at Wimbledon 2024, he got a surprise guest — Westbrook, who apparently came to take in some world-class tennis. It’s a little too convenient that Westbrook happened to meet Djokovic, one of Jokic’s best friends, as the Nuggets recruit him in the background.

Isn’t it?

In all seriousness, Westbrook meeting Djokovic right before he might join Jokic’s Nuggets probably isn’t connected at all. It’s just so funny that Westbrook would hang out with another player who has a “Joker” nickname during a time when the Nuggets are waiting for him to become available.

NBA fans made the same Nikola Jokic joke after seeing Novak Djokovic hang out with Russell Westbrook

Wimbledon disrupted by rowdy England fans celebrating Euro 2024 win

Euro 2024 briefly took over at Wimbledon, where England fans got loud

England’s dramatic success at Euro 2024 is such a big deal that it’s impacting other major sporting events.

That includes Wimbledon, which saw a third-round match between No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic and Alexei Popyrin briefly halted as celebrations broke out in the stands at Centre Court.

It wasn’t a spectacular rally or match-winning ace that brought a roar out of fans on Saturday. Instead, as Popyrin prepared to serve in the second set, the crowd suddenly began loudly cheering and applauding.

In tennis, noise as a player prepares to serve is normally a faux pas, and announcements urging quiet are common in major finals. Fans can be ejected for the kind of behavior that, in soccer, is utterly normal.

This time, though, everyone knew the deal. Both players eased up for a moment, as it was quickly clear what was going on. Roughly 300 miles east in Düsseldorf, England had survived a penalty-kick tiebreaker at Euro 2024, seeing off Switzerland 5-3 after a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.

While it wasn’t being shown on any screens in the stadium, it became obvious that at least a few hundred attendees were also following Euro 2024 on their phones.

That meant that when Trent Alexander-Arnold’s penalty hit the back of the net, it was party time, regardless of what was going on between Djokovic and Popyrin.

As the crowd continued its applause, the tennis players even pantomimed a bit of soccer, with Djokovic pretending to kick a ball while Popyrin took on the role of goalkeeper.

Once Center Court calmed down enough for play to resume, Djokovic would go on to claim victory in four sets.

Watch England fans disrupt Wimbledon

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Wimbledon officials hilariously halted play as England defeated Switzerland on PKs in the Euros

Sometimes you just have to cheer, tennis or no.

The Wimbledon third round match between Novak Djokovic and Alexei Popyrin took a brief pause on Saturday afternoon as the crowd erupted in spontaneous cheers. After a brief moment of confusion, Djokovic realized the reason, and it had nothing to do with the match at hand.

MORE: Spain’s blatant handball allowed it to escape Germany in extra time at Euro 2024 and fans lost it

The English men’s national team played Switzerland to 1-1 tie in the 2024 European Championship quarterfinals before emerging victorious, 5-3, in penalty kicks. As the mostly home crowd learned of the result, excitement ensued.

To the credit of the tennis players, they quickly caught on and Djokovic reacted with a playful fake soccer kick of his own.

Serbia flew Novak Djokovic in for Euro 2024 as a good-luck charm against Denmark

Novak Djokovic found time for his country during a tough moment of his career.

A torn meniscus at this year’s French Open might threaten the end of Novak Djokovic’s legendary tennis career. However, as Wimbledon nears at the start of next month, Djokovic’s status is still in question, and he doesn’t appear to be stressed about it.

How could he be if he was in attendance at Euro 2024 all the way in Munich?

With Serbia’s tournament chances on the line against Denmark on Tuesday, the country flew in Djokovic, arguably the greatest athlete in the small nation’s history, to try and rally the troops. After Djokovic practiced earlier in the day, further addressing his health for Wimbledon will have to wait for now.

Given Djokovic’s legendary status amongst his countrypeople, having him around is not a bad bet at all:

Barring a win over Denmark with impossible on-paper odds, the Serbians will likely be done in Euro 2024. Having Djokovic around as a good-luck charm really might swing those odds.

Novak Djokovic’s torn meniscus might mark the beginning of the end of his reign at the top of tennis

Father time is undefeated.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for tapping in with the Morning Win today. We appreciate you for taking the time here.

For the bulk of his career, Novak Djokovic has been superman on the court. He’s played through nagging injury after nagging injury. There was a time we thought his wrist would sideline him. Nope. Maybe that sore elbow? Nuh-uh. How about an abdominal injury? It’s fine.

He’s always been able to power through and come out on the other side victorious. That’s why how he got to where he is today. That’s why he’s arguably the greatest tennis player of all time.

Seeing him go down with a torn meniscus on Tuesday at Roland-Garros was a shock to the system.

He injured his right knee during his French Open match with Francisco Cerundolo. He played through the pain and won, but it’s unclear if any further damage was done. ESPN reports he will reportedly undergo surgery on Wednesday.

This makes the all-time Grand Slam leader’s future murky in both the long term and the short term.

Djokovic will miss Wimbledon, which begins July 1. There’s hope he’ll make it back for the Olympics, which is a big deal for him but he’ll be less than two months removed from a knee surgery at 37-years-old. We’ll see.

That’s exactly why his long-term outlook is questionable, too. He’s 37 years old! He’s still incredible, but it already felt like he lost a step this season when he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open earlier this year. He’ll lose his No. 1 ranking to Sinner, who now has a good chance at winning the French Open with Djokovic sidelined.

It’s hard to forecast how this will go for Djokovic. But it’s around this age when all the greats begin to struggle. We’ve seen how it’s gone for Rafael Nadal with injuries. Roger Federer was marred by injuries late in his career, too. Tennis is a grueling game. It takes a lot and it’s hard to do for such a long time.

Djokovic has been tough. He’s also been really lucky. At some point, that luck was probably going to run out.

I hate to say it, but there’s a good chance we’ve reached that point here.

JJ Redick plays it coy

(Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)

All signs seem to point to JJ Redick becoming the Lakers head coach after he finishes calling the NBA Finals with ESPN this year. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that LA is “zeroing in” on Redick as the guy.

Redick, though, is not giving any hints. He appeared on the Gojo and Golic show and said his focus is on the NBA Finals. That’s it and that’s all.

“My day-to-day right now is consumed with calling games, the 19 different podcasts I feel like I have, my obligation to all of our partners. So, my focus is on the NBA Finals. In terms of Shams [Charania], that will be addressed once the season is over. So, I’ll just say that.”

That’s a great answer from JJ. On one hand, yeah, it definitely sounds like a guy who is headed for LA after this season is over. On the other? There’s plausible deniability there! We’ll just have to wait and see.

But let’s not kid ourselves here. This is happening. The two names that came up the most in the Lakers coaching search have been Redick and Ty Lue. One of those dudes just signed an extension with the Clippers. The other is still offering up boilerplate answers to speculative coaching questions. The math isn’t that hard to do here.

Best of luck in LA, JJ. You’re going to need it.

The worst ejection ever

Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Looks like the WNBA Officials decided to take Angel Reese’s “bad guy” comments to heart.

The Chicago Sky rookie got two back-to-back technical fouls and an ejection for … seemingly nothing? Reese appeared to tell the official that a call was BS initially, which she got an initial tech for. But then she immediately got another one for simply waving the official off.

Yes, really.

Even the Liberty were surprised by this. It made no sense. Here’s a good take from our Cory Woodroof:

“While it’s possible she also said something to anger the ref after the first call, this is still an absurd way for Reese to be thrown out of the game … especially after, y’know, that whole hard foul situation went down over the weekend between Sky guard Chennedy Carter and Indiana Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark.”

Be better, refs. Please. I’m begging you.

Quick hits: Please stop talking, Pat McAfee … An awesome Mariners rally video … and more

— Pat McAfee has to know when to fold ’em. Stop talking about Caitlin Clark, please. Cory has more here.

— Andrew Joseph has more on this amazing rally video from the Mariners that looked like a Microsoft Word doc.

— Jontay Porter amassed so much debt to his co-conspirators in his NBA betting scheme. This is insane. Prince Grimes has more.

— Happy birthday, Kate Martin! Sorry you missed the bus. Meg Hall has more.

— Speaking of Meg, here she is with all the cool WNBA storylines you missed while everyone lost their minds.

— Here are the five most hateful moments between Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics.

That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading. I appreciate you! Have a fantastic Wednesday. We out. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

UCLA QB Justyn Martin plays catch with tennis icon Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic at UCLA was a fun sight to see recently.

An unlikely duo played some pitch and catch at UCLA on Thursday this week.

Bruins rising sophomore quarterback Justyn Martin threw around the pigskin with 24-time Grand Slam champion and tennis icon Novak Djokovic.

A video released by Djokovic on X shows him and Martin working out and spinning it at a UCLA facility. In addition, Djokovic worked on his serve at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Djokovic greeted fans, signed balls, and took some selfies as well.

Ranked #1 in the world, Djokovic made the stop in Westwood ahead of the Indian Wells Open, played in Indian Wells, California on March 3rd.

Not to be lost in the situation is Martin. While he has yet to take a snap at the college level, he was a four-star recruit from Inglewood High School.

Though Martin lags in the depth chart, his high school tape displays his cannon for an arm.

Rising senior Ethan Garbers is primed to be the starting quarterback for the Bruins in 2024, but if Martin can challenge him early in training camp, Martin could potentially fight for the QB1 job in Westwood with his incredible physical traits.