Novak Djokovic's X-rated outburst leaves Wimbledon crowd in stunned silence
The Serb was not at the races as Katie Boulter's fiance easily took the first set 6-1 – the first time Djokovic has ever lost an opening Wimbledon set by that margin.
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Djokovic then took an attritional second set 6-4 to level the match, while still appearing to struggle with the wind.
And frustrations boiled over in the third when the seven-time champion placed an easy-looking return well out of play.
He then launched an X-rated rant at the top of his voice in his native Serbian.
The Serb was accused by fans of saying: 'F*** you, f*** you, what a f***ing spin', according to The Sun.
You can watch the incident in the player above
There were audible gasps from the crowd before hushed silence set in with fans on Centre Court – despite probably not being able to understand what he said – being surprised at the sheer volume of his outburst.
One Djokovic fan took to X to say: 'Hahahahahaha I am not feeling well..'
While a detractor posted: 'This is why Djokovic isn't nearly as respected as his peers …'
If the umpire had understood what Djokovic had said, he would have picked up a code violation and been warned for the misdemeanour.
In the event of a second code violation, players are forced to forfeit a point, followed by a game for a third and finally, the match for a fourth.
In a tongue-in-cheek interview in 2023, Djokovic told Eurosport that he was trying to work out new ways of swearing in his own language to avoid falling foul of umpires.
He said: 'The problem we have, because of the success of Croatian and Serbian players in the last 30 years or so, we unfortunately have a situation where most of the umpires understand the swearing words.
'So we have to play around a little bit, we have to use the slang, create new words, but when you're p***ed off you don't think about creating.'
Despite his early troubles, Djokovic saw off his Australian rival 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
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