Novak Djokovic claims a confrontation with a fan ahead of his US Open win over Denis Kudla provided him with extra motivation.
The world No.1’s hopes of winning a fourth title at Flushing Meadows have been hampered by a niggling shoulder injury which forced him to arrive late for his pre-match practice session.
When he was finally able to begin his warm-up, the Serb became embroiled in a heated discussion with an onlooker and was heard saying ‘trust me, I’ll come find you,’ before being dragged away by coach Goran Ivanisevic.
Djokovic latterly showed no ill-effects of his shoulder injury and brushed aside Kulda in straight sets, winning 6-3 6-4 6-2 to set-up a last 16 meeting with Stan Wawrinka.
“Trust me, I’ll come find you…” https://t.co/XYGUzvHzF1
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 31, 2019
‘Just had a little chat,’ said a smiling Djokovic in his post match press conference when asked about the incident with the fan.
‘To have a drink,’ he added. ‘I liked the guy. I’m going to buy him a drink.
‘We’ll keep it between us. But he definitely helped me. He doesn’t even know, but he did help me.’
Pressed on what the fan said to him, Djokovic added: ‘Well, if you have the video, you’ll hear I guess.
‘As I said, I’m not going to talk about it. I think he did me a favor. Even maybe he didn’t want to do me a favor, he did me a favor, big favor.’