DJOKOVIC SHOCK
Serb booted out of US Open after hitting line judge with ball
Novak Djokovic was sensationally defaulted from the US open last night after petulantly smashing the ball and hitting a female line judge.
The world No 1, massive favourite for the tournament, was slung out after lengthy deliberations with tournament officials while playing his fourth round match against Spaniard Pablo carreno Busta.
The 33-year- old Serb had just dropped serve to go 6-5 down against the No 20 seed when he angrily swiped away a ball that appeared to hit the back fence line judge in the throat.
The official keeled over and the rules are quite clear about such abuse of those working on the court: the player has to go.
Referee Soeren Friemel was summoned on to court inside the giant, deserted arthur ashe Stadium by umpire aurelie Tourte. He was told, after plenty of debate, that there was no option but to default him from a tournament that has already seen a surfeit of drama.
Djokovic attempted to plead his case and could be heard arguing his point, all to no avail. ‘She doesn’t have to go to the hospital for this,’ he said as he stood at the net, a shocked look on his face.
‘You’re going to choose a
default in this situation? My career, Grand Slam, centre stage?’
Friemel, backed up by senior official Andreas egli, held firm, even when he added: ‘You have a game penalty, set penalty, many options.’
When he had exhausted his excuses and been informed of the decision he walked over with relative calm over to the Spaniard and shook hands.
This was arguably the most dramatic defaultult since british umpire Gerry Armstrong, now the Wimbledon referee, fed disqualified John Mcenroe from the Australian Open 1990 for verbal abuse.
djokovic had looked extremely likely to add to his s 17th Major titles es and had beenn in imperious form, orm, boasting a 26-0 record for 2020.
It is a massive blow to his hopes of usurping rafael nadal and roger Federer, both absent from Flushing Meadows, but who stand on 19 and 20 respectively. At the age of 33 he can hardly afford to spurn such opportunities. One
upshot of the drama is that there is going to be a new Grand Slam champion in men’s tennis for the first time since Marin Cilic won in new York six years ago. There appears little question that djokovic’s angry swish of the racket did not mean to injure anyone, it was just an act of frustration. Immediately that he saw he he knew had gestured he hit was his in his unintended deep apology, trouble. target and Tim Henman was defaulted from Wimbledon 25 years ago for a similar mishap, and he knew better than anyone that there as no alternative to the punishment.pun ‘ It’s the right decision,’ said Henman on Amazon Prime. ‘It happened to me at Wimbledon 1995 in the sames scenario, You have to be responsible for This your actions.’ time it was borne oof someone who sometimes acts as if he is above the sport, as he tries to cement a legacy comparable to that of nadal and Federer. djokovic has flirted with this kind of disaster before, with instances of him thrashing balls away in anger that have gone into the crowd, or snatching towels from ballkids in an aggressive manner.
There was a notable example in 2016 at the French Open when he played Czech Tomas berdych. He hurled his racket into the clay in the direction of a line judge, and when it bounced up it was only thanks to the official’s reflexes that is missed his head. Otherwise he would have been gone there as well, and not gone on to win his one roland Garros title.
In a way this is an appropriate end to a lockdown summer that has tarnished the reputation of a highly- intelligent, driven and complex man who is among the greatest players ever, especially on hard courts.
He organised the disastrous Adria Tour around the balkans, which needed to abandoned when numerous participants, including himself and his wife, tested positive for coronavirus.
The whole guiding principle behind the exhibition series seemed to be that coronavirus was something that could be overlooked, and there was a marked lack of social distancing running through the whole production.
before that he was criticised by one of Serbia’s top government epidemiologists for his anti-vaccine views, and there were embarrassing exchanges on social media with health gurus.
He left Flushing Meadows abruptly last night and must now decide on his next move ahead of the French Open, which is due to take place later this month.
no 2 seed dominic Thiem becomes the new favourite for the tournament.