MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic said he “loved” Danielle Collins’ reaction to a hostile home crowd at the Australian Open, adding that he was now a “big fan” of the American.

After beating home favourite Destanee Aiava on a raucous Kia Arena, Collins blew kisses to the crowd and thanked them in her on-court interview for helping her land a “big fat pay check.”

Asked about the incident after beating No. 26 seed Tomas Machac in straight sets, Djokovic said with a smile: “I loved her response. I loved it, everything she said on the court, off the court.

“Big fan of Danielle Collins after that. I was before, but now, big fan (smiling). I love it.”

He added: “I don’t think I would be that polite, and I know exactly the feeling. So I think she was funny, smart, and just big fan of what she did. Big fan.”

Dealing with the hostile Aussie crowd has been a recurring theme this tournament, with Britain’s Jack Draper cupping his ear to the home fans as he celebrated a five-set victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday and then dealing with wolfwhistling in the late stages of his match with Aleksandar Vukic.

Djokovic was not up against an Australian player on Friday night, but he often has run-ins with supporters who enjoy winding him up. It happened a few times against Machac, with Djokovic exhorting the umpire to make an announcement telling the fans to quieten down midway through the third set. Djokovic made frequent gestures towards fans who were bothering him, including at the end of the match when he pointed at one and cupped his ear.

“A few people here and there (overstepped the mark),” he said afterwards. “I understand you have a few drinks more, and then you get into it.

“If it’s repetitive, it happens for an hour, somebody tells you in the corner things that you don’t want to hear and constant provoking, then of course it comes to the point where you just respond.

“So I tried to tolerate it, but then at one point I had to respond.”

In spite of his disagreement with some of the fans’ conduct, Djokovic said he would advocate for tennis moving away from its traditional image by embracing a reasonable level of raucousness — including, he said, having dancers on the court in the style of NFL and NBA entertainment.

“Why wouldn’t we consider doing something between the sets like the Super Bowl or the NBA? When there is a timeout, they have, you know, dancers come in and this and that. I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Nice dancers, you know, there for a few minutes more break so I can relax my nerves and think about something else (smiling).

“I feel like it would bring a more fun element and entertainment to tennis, that we know has been quite traditional and maybe conservative in some things. When we talk about conservative, we know Wimbledon is the most conservative. But, for example, with Wimbledon I wouldn’t change much. I would keep it as it is, because it’s so unique, all white and strawberries and cream and everything about it is just so elegant and classy.

“But all the others, U.S. Open, I mean, in USA, you guys know very well what entertainment is about. So I’m up for it, just like maybe gradual changes (smiling). Dancers first.”

Next up for Djokovic is a fourth-round match on Sunday against another Czech, the No. 24 seed Jiri Lehecka.

(Top photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images)