Novak Djokovic pays classy tribute to tennis legend, thanks her for ‘valuable history lessons’

Novak Djokovic had to rely on his experience to keep his Wimbledon title defence on track, as he sealed a 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-2 victory against Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven on Sunday, in his Round of 16 fixture at Centre Court. After the match, Djokovic won over the crowd once again with a classy tribute for Billy-Jean King, who was present among the spectators. “You know I consider myself a decent student of the history of tennis, until today. I heard Billy Jean speak about history, I figured how much I really don’t know about tennis history”, he said.

“So thank you Billy Jean for bringing me a lot of valuable lessons today”, he further added.

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Sitting among the crowd, King reacted by blowing Djokovic a kiss. After the win, Djokovic is now unbeaten at Wimbledon since retiring due to an elbow injury against Tomas Berdych in the 2017 quarter-finals. He is also seeking to win a fourth straight Wimbledon crown and his seventh overall at the All England Club. The Serbian tennis star is set to face 10th seed Jannik Sinner on Tuesday, for a place in the semi-finals. Sinner reached the quarter-finals after defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round.

After his win against Van Rijthoven, Djokovic called it a ‘tough’ match. “Very tough. I mean, I have never faced him before and he’s kind of a new face on the tour”, he said.

“He was on a streak on this surface and I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy with that serve and a lot of talent, great touch, powerful forehand, he can do a lot of damage. It took me a little bit of time to get used to his pace”, he further added.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will also be seeking the Wimbledon crown this year and is scheduled to face Botic van de Zandschulp in his Round of 16 fixture at Centre Court, on Monday.