American tennis legend Jimmy Connors has come out in support of Novak Djokovic after the Serbian superstar was booed off the Rod Laver Arena during the men’s singles semi-finals of the recently-concluded Australian Open. Djokovic’s quest for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title, which would have landed him a historic 25th Grand Slam victory, was cut short after he lost the first set in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev,
following which he had to retire hurt due to injury.

Djokovic,
who has been a polarising figure in the sport over the years and had been involved in a feud with broadcasters Channel Nine during the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne Park, was then subjected to boos and jeers as he retired hurt after the first set.

‘Djoker’ had taken an injury break during his thrilling quarter-final victory over Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz as well, the timing of which had raised suspicions, and after his semi-final exit,
would share MRI scans to confirm a torn hamstring.

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Connors, a seven-time Grand Slam winner who had won the Australian Open in 1974, admitted that Djokovic’s past actions led to a hostile reaction from the crowd in Melbourne, but also offered the 37-year-old advice to deal with the current situation.

“Doesn’t matter what you do! No good deed goes unpunished. It’s crazy but you know what, I look back over the last number of years and he’s done some things that he stood up for himself, he thought that’s the way it should be done. Didn’t meet with the approval of many, many people around the world and he got criticized for that too! I’m talking about COVID! And now when something happens like this,” he said on the Advantage Connors podcast.

“Not everyone can work the white hat! If everybody wore the white hat and was a good guy, it would be a little boring, to me… The one quote that I remember is, “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind”… You can get by with almost anything if you win,“the 72-year-old added.

Djokovic, who had won gold in the Paris Olympics last year, has had to pull out of Serbia’s Davis Cup tie against Denmark due to his injury and will be setting his sights on the French Open next in order to achieve the elusive 25 Grand Slam feat.