Djokovic ejected out of the US open
World No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic has been disqualified for the US open after he inadvertently hit a ball at one of the line judges. The ball hit the line judge on the throat and she could be seen gasping for air. Djokovic apologised and though everyone agreed that it was not done on purpose, the authorities defaulted him going by the rule book.
What happened?
Djokovic was facing Spanish opponent Pablo Carreno Busta at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Djokovic was serving at 5-5 in the opening set, and was broken at a crucial stage – which meant his opponent would be serving for the set in the next game. The Serb star angrily smacked a ball behind him, a bit too hard. The ball flew right at the line judge, who dropped to her knees at the back of the court and reached for her neck.
Djokovic had not seen where his ball would go and as soon as he realised that it may hurt the umpire, he was seen rushing towards her. Unfortunately, it was too late.
He apologised and was seen arguing for ten minutes with the authorities for the right penalty. At the end, he had to walk out of the stadium, giving the win to his opponent.
Not the first
Djokovic is not the first player to be defaulted by the championship. John McEnroe was the first player to be disqualified in the Open era, in the 1990 Australian Open. British tennis favourite Tim Henman was disqualified from Wimbledon in 1995. Denis Shapovalov was disqualified from Davis Cup in 2017. Apart from these there are another six players who were also thrown a rule book.
A place for the young
Djokovic’s removal from the competition also means that for the first time since the 2014 US Open, there will now emerge a first-time men’s singles Grand Slam champion. Even Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are not playing in the tournament. The court is wide open for the new blood then.
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