Novak Djokovic "very respectful" in defeat despite controversial moments on court, says Serena Williams' former coach

Novak Djokovic's respectfulness towards his opponents in defeat was praised by Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs after the Serb's exit from the Italian Open.

Djokovic's title defense in Rome came to an end at the hands of Holger Rune in the quarterfinals. Rune started the match strong, breaking the 22-time Grand Slam champion's serve twice to claim the first set 6-2. Djokovic then bounced back well in a rain-interrupted second set to level the scores.

However, Djokovic was unable to maintain his momentum in the face of Rune's aggressive style of play and frequent drop shots in the deciding set as the Dane raced to a 4-0 lead before claiming a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win.

Following his defeat, tennis journalist Bastien Fachan lauded Novak Djokovic's sportsmanship, sharing images of the Serb embracing Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune after his losses to them this season.

"No one in tennis gives better handshakes in defeat than Djokovic," he tweeted.

Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs agreed with Fachan's assessment and praised Djokovic's respectfulness in defeat, despite his occasional controversial behavior on the court.

"Agreed. Novak has definitely had his moments on court that are not good but he is without question, very respectful to his opponents in defeat," Stubbs commented.

One such moment of controversy involving Djokovic took place in the Italian Open quarterfinal as well. He took issue with how long chair umpire Mohammed Lahyani took to call out the scores in a tense moment in the deciding set.

“What’s the drama, waiting in between English and Italian? What are you acting here or what?” the frustrated Serb yelled.

“This is how you do what? Why do you call the score for 20 seconds? Just call it a score, for God’s sake!” he added.

Novak Djokovic jokes about asking Holger Rune for career tips after Italian Open defeat

Holger Rune defeated the Serb in the Italian Open quarterfinal

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Novak Djokovic was asked if he had any career advice for Holger Rune, causing the Serb to joke that it was he who needed to seek advice from the Dane given how their most recent encounters had panned out.

"I'm going to ask him tips. He beat me twice we played against each other, so... I have no tips for him. So far he's doing very well," he said.

Holger Rune leads 2-1 in his head-to-head against the 22-time Grand Slam champion. He previously ended the Serb's title defense at the 2022 Paris Masters as well, defeating him 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to secure his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title.