French Open: 'It's absurd!' - John McEnroe defends Novak Djokovic over boos from fans at Roland-Garros

Eurosport's John McEnroe has defended Novak Djokovic after the 22-time Grand Slam champion was booed during his French Open match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Friday afternoon. The two-time champion at Roland-Garros celebrated exuberantly — and with good reason — after he battled to taking the second set under a huge amount of pressure from his doughty opponent on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Ad Djokovic, who also got booed for celebrating when he was taking on Aleksandar Kovacevic earlier in the tournament, was quite understandably receiving a medical time-out with Davidovich Fokina in the bathroom when he heard the noise from the crowd.

Roland-Garros'Djokovic is not feeling sorry!' — Boos follow exuberant celebrationsAN HOUR AGO «Why do they boo?» McEnroe asked on commentary for Eurosport, somewhat perplexed. «Everyone does it [take a medical time-out]. It’s totally legal, you’re allowed to work and rub his legs! Where’s Davidoch Fokina? He’s off to the bathroom.

»I totally get his reaction. Are you kidding me? Are you going to boo for this? The other guy’s not even on the court! «Change the rules if you don’t want to let a guy get worked on, but don’t start doing that. It’s absurd! »Let’s be real.

That’s what he’s been battling his whole career; inspiring and pushing him. It ends up that it actually helped him, in a weird way. «So as an athlete, if you had a choice between love or respect, you’d love to have both.