Novak Djokovic’s on-court demeanor was recently compared to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in a controversial take by actor and comedian Ike Barinholtz. Reacting to the Hollywood star’s statement, fans were left furious, and they were quick to let their opinions show.
Djokovic, alongside Federer and Nadal, dominated the game of men’s singles for two decades between 2000 and 2020. Between the three of them, the tennis stars clinched 66 Grand Slam titles over twenty years, while spending a combined 947 weeks as World No. 1.
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Recently, in an episode of the Funny You Ask podcast, host Ike Barinholtz, who is valued at $5 million by Celebrity Net Worth, compared Novak Djokovic’s on-court behaviour to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, saying,
“I gotta say, I don’t like Novak Djokovic. He seems like a very unfriendly guy. I think part of it too is coming off of Federer and Nadal. They seem like beautiful souls, happy, joyful. To have this very severe Serbian man? It sucked a little bit.”
Reacting to the statement, one fan on Instagram wrote,
“He has been (gracious) his entire career. It was just covered by the other noise. Very gracious champion. Stop judging.”
Meanwhile, one X user slammed Barinholtz and his guest in the podcast as ‘idiots’, writing,
“Who are these two idiots?”
Here is how other tennis enthusiasts reacted to Ike Barinholtz’s controversial take about Novak Djokovic:
“Someone should tell these two imbeciles to actually go and watch tennis, for real,” one X user commented.
“Let’s spread false information about Novak as usual 😂 What a load of nonsense,” another added.
“Have you ever heard him give a victory speech? Or a defeat speech? He’s been the most gracious player for the better part of two decades. Bro. Loved you in the league. But stay in your lane,” one Instagram user wrote.
“Are you even following tennis? All the young players look up to him & have him on call for help – this generation of tennis is proud to have him still here. Saying anything bad about him now is nonsensical,” another added.
Novak Djokovic slated to return to action at the China Open
Novak Djokovic was last seen in action at the US Open. The fourth seed entered the tournament as one of the front runners for a title finish, but he was shown the door in his opening round encounter by Argentina’s Mariano Navone after a grueling five-set match.
Now, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is slated to return to the court at the China Open. The ATP 500 event will take place in Beijing between September 30 and October 6, with the entry list featuring top players like Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and more. Novak Djokovic has previously clinched six titles at this tournament.
Edited by Riddhi Acharya