Getty Image / Andy Cheung
Novak Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open Men’s Final to capture his 22nd major singles championship.
In doing so, Novak Djokovic tied Rafael Nadal for the most men’s singles Grand Slam titles in Tennis history. Rafa congratulated Novak on Instagram.
‘Joker’ has been particularly successful at the Australian Open where he’s won 10 men’s singles titles. Elsewhere he’s won 7 Wimbledon titles, 3 US Opens, and 2 French Opens.
Despite holding more Australian Open titles than any player in history, Novak Djokovic’s presence was divisive this year. Many Australian Open fans welcomed Novak Djokovic with open arms but others didn’t forget how he got deported from Australia last year.
It is unclear what led to Novak Djokovic possibly uttering these vulgar swears in Croatian on the court, but the clip below has gone viral.
The most electrifying man in sports entertainment.pic.twitter.com/6wLYg3GT7U
— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) January 29, 2023
Novak Djokovic video goes viral
According to several Croatian tennis fans on Twitter, a rough translation for what Novak Djokovic appeared to say here is “I will f–k all of your mothers, I’ll f–k all of them.” Here is a word-for-word explanation tweet of what he allegedly said in Croatian.
Other Croatians insist that this is simply a common type of swearing for Croatians and their swearing phrases tend to be much more vulgar than what Americans are used to. One person asked if this was a direct translation, it’s not word-for-word apparently:
Well not word for word, but in that manner was said, he was saying how he'll fuck the mothers of them who boo him 🤣
— 🇷🇸 (@lfckimi) January 29, 2023
Here someone claims this isn’t as bad as the translation makes it seem:
It's not as bad as it sounds, tho. We say it casually like americans say fvck. Our swears are really colorful
— Dejan (@dejanmilicevic_) January 29, 2023
And here is another Novak Djokovic stan defending his alleged comments as a nuanced translation that isn’t as bad in Croatia:
OMG, how some people are bad and are trying to create a different environment and bad feelings. This is a common cursing in Serbia, not saying it is good, but definitely not something adequate for an English translation. Haters are trying to ruin him again.
— AnaStan (@AStan021) January 29, 2023
If you are wondering why he appeared to be swearing in Croatian and not Serbian or English, it’s because Novak is of Croatian descent on his maternal side of the family. He is Serbian born and of Serbian ancestroy on his paternal side of the family.
Some fans don’t seem to care at all about the vulgarity of what he may or may not have said.
There are plenty of people on social commenting “What a legend” and/or “Legend. Barbarian energy.”
One thing we know or certain is Novak Djokovic doesn’t handle heckling from fans well…