Novak Djokovic has spent two decades trying to hide his on-court obscenities behind a language his opponents, umpires and TV audience could not understand.
That workaround is over.
Sitting next to LeBron James for a live taping of The Shop at Fanatics Fest NYC on Friday, July 17, the 24-time major champion admitted the trick that carried him through his career has stopped working.
“Now you have microphones all over the place. You can’t put a swear word anywhere,” Djokovic said.
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“At least I do it in Serbian, but now I mean the last 20 years, I’ve been around everyone all of a sudden understands my language, you know. So, I get warnings and fines and stuff, but you know, this is a way to get it out of the system.”
No such rule in the NBA
For a basketball player used to trading verbal blows in front of a live crowd every night, the idea of getting fined for what you say on court was foreign.
“We can say whatever we want to say on the floor,” LeBron told Djokovic.
“It’s a lot of trash talking. It’s a lot of cursing. It’s a lot of like, you know, we don’t have those restrictions.”
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Tennis, unlike the NBA, treats audible profanity as a rules violation. An audible obscenity picked up by the umpire’s microphones or courtside television feeds can trigger a warning, then a point penalty, then a fine.
£5,600 fine at Wimbledon 2026
Wimbledon officials hit Djokovic with a £5,600 ($7,500) fine for audible obscenity during his fourth-round match against Roman Safiullin on July 6, SportBible reported. The Serbian, trailing 2-0 in the third set, was given a formal warning by the umpire for his outburst before coming back to win 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
He was one of 17 players fined at the tournament for offences ranging from racket abuse to unsportsmanlike conduct.
Djokovic said of the incidents:
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“Not something I’m proud of when I get warning or something like that.”
New York trip 11 days after Wimbledon exit
Djokovic’s New York appearance came less than a week after his Wimbledon exit.
Jannik Sinner beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinal on July 10, a straight-sets defeat that sent the Italian on to face Alexander Zverev in the final.
The Fanatics Fest weekend put Djokovic on a bill with LeBron, Lionel Messi, Tom Brady and Kevin Durant. On The Shop he also described the loneliness of the tennis pro, sat in his own head between points.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster, honestly. You’re by yourself, so you’ve got to figure things out,” he said.
The Serbian cursing, it turns out, was one of the ways he figured it out. It just doesn’t work anymore.
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