“i DeserveD it”: Djokovic gets obscenity warning Slow- starting Lightning seek early spark vs Stars in Game 2.

ROME » Novak Djokovic knows it isn’t model behavior when he loses his cool on the tennis court.

Yet he just can’t help himself. Exactly two weeks after he was defaulted from the U. S. Open, and a day after he was warned by the chair umpire for breaking his racket in a fit of rage, Djokovic received an obscenity warning midway through a 7- 5, 6- 3 win over Casper Ruud in the Italian Open semifinals Sunday.

The obscenity came in the third game of the second set, by which time Djokovic had a running dialogue with the chair umpire over a series of contested calls.

“I deserved the warning,” Djokovic said. “I didn’t say nice things in my language.

As opposed to his previous two outbursts, this time there were fans in the stands who could clearly hear how Djokovic dealt with his frustration.

With 1,000 spectators allowed in to the Foro Italico for the first time this week, a large proportion of those in attendance were children.

“I don’t want to do it, but when it comes, it happens,” Djokovic said Saturday. “That’s how I, I guess, release sometimes my anger.”

Forward Blake Coleman and the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to have to focus on having faster starts to games if they’re going to count on enjoying better finishes against the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Final.

A Lightning team that led the NHL in scoring for a third straight season is suddenly having difficulty generating an early spark. Tampa Bay hasn’t led in regulation in three straight games, and given up the opening goal in six straight outings.

“You don’t want to put yourself behind the 8- ball that frequently,” Coleman said Sunday, a day after the Lightning sleep- walked through two periods of a series- opening 4- 1 loss.

The NHL’s condensed playoff schedule features Game 2 on Monday, followed by Game 3, Tuesday.