'He is like Darth Vader': John McEnroe defends tennis GOAT

Novak Djokovic clashed with the Wimbledon crowd in his fourth-round match against Holger Rune when he felt the fans were booing him.

The spectators were screaming 'Ruuunneee', but Djokovic is still convinced the fans were booing the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

According to BBC Sport, Djokovic said: "I played in much more hostile environments, trust me - you guys can't touch me. To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and appreciate it."

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Djokovic still found the funny side of the crowd's reaction in the post-match interview, signing off by saying: "To all those people who have chosen to disrespect the player - in this case me - have a goooooooood night."

Former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe is one tennis legend who knows exactly what it feels like to be disrespected by the crowd. In his playing days, he was known as the 'bad boy' of the sport.

McEnroe believes Djokovic got it wrong on this occasion, but can understand his reaction is from years of striving and failing to gage the love of the wider tennis community, like his fellow icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal managed to do.

The Tennis365 website reports McEnroe said: "He has been battling this for his whole career, Yes, he feeds off negative energy, and yes, I did feed off that at times, but I hated it in a way."

"He is like the Darth Vader, but why? What has he done that is so bad? He is thinking 'I'm helping this tournament', which he is. (He thinks) why don't I get some love when I am playing a guy who is 15 in the world and hasn't done a damn thing compared to him?"

As the most successful men's player in tennis history, it's sometimes a mystery why Djokovic gets hate when he brings so much joy to people for his impressive performances.

Djokovic is bidding to win a record eighth Wimbledon title, and is expected to receive more frosty receptions from the Centre Court crowd after his comments last time.

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