Nick Kyrgios said he wanted to “do WWE in the crowd” after Novak Djokovic was heckled during his second-round victory at the Australian Open. The world No. 1 confronted a spectator during the fourth and final set, telling them to “come and say it to my face”. And he later asked Kyrgios whether the Australian was proud of his response.

Djokovic survived another tough test at the Australian Open on Wednesday – three days after he played a four-hour and two-minute thriller in the first round. The defending champion dropped the second set and saved four set points in the third before storming back to beat Alexei Popyrin 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3.

The turning point for the top seed came at 2-2 in the fourth set, when someone in the crowd started heckling him. Djokovic confronted the spectator and dropped just one more game afterwards, getting a boost from the adversity. After the match, the 36-year-old reflected on his decision to bite back during a Eurosport interview, with Kyrgios listening on after commentating on the match.

“I was feeling really a lot of mixed emotions today on the court. Not a great atmosphere for me to play in, to be honest. Again, you have to find a way to win and I guess accept the circumstances, conditions you are playing in,” Djokovic said. “People basically made noise between first and second serve the entire match. It is what it is, it’s a Grand Slam, it’s a fight. Of course it annoys you but at the same time you have to accept it and go with it.”

While Djokovic knew how to play through the noise, he said he drew the line when it came to hecklers. Addressing Kyrgios, the 36-year-old continued: “But what really frustrates me is when somebody is heckling so I confront the hecklers as I did. I think Kygs loved that. Kygs, did you like that exchange?

I invited a guy to come and tell it to my face, whatever he was saying. He was saying a lot of nice things so he was apologising from far away and all of a sudden there’s an absence of courage when he needs to face me.” Kyrgios didn’t want the 10-time champion to worry about the outside noise, offering to sort out the heckler himself.

“When he was heckling you Novak, I said to the commentary box and everyone worldwide, I was like look, if you want me to jump into the crowd and sort him out, I’ll do it for you bro. I’ve got your back, 100 per cent,” the former world No. 13 replied, laughing. Djokovic added: “I’ll keep that in my mind, thanks Kygs.”

Kyrgios is currently commentating on the Australian Open for Eurosport after he was forced to pull out of the tournament injured. The 28-year-old has played just one singles match since October 2022 as he continues to struggle with wrist and knee injuries.

While Djokovic wanted to see his friend and rival back on the tour, Kyrgios had another offer – going WWE-style on the spectator who caused him trouble during the match. “Nick, come back man. Come back. Let’s play doubles,” the 24-time Major champion said.

“Bro, I’m ready. Let’s do WWE in the crowd, I’ll jump in for you, I’ll go first. I’ll get that guy out of here,” Kyrgios smiled, as Djokovic promised to get the popcorn and watch on. The Australian will now likely be on the lookout for any troublemakers when Djokovic faces 30th seed Tomas Etcheverry on Friday.