In what was more a matter of when than if, Novak Djokovic stands suspended from the US Open for accidentally hitting a lineswoman with the ball.
The incident happened during the first set of his fourth round match against P. Carreño Busta.
After conceding a point, an angry Djokovic threw the ball towards the back of the court and ended up hitting the elderly lineswoman directly on the throat.
The match, 6-5 in Busta’s favour at that point, was ended right then and Djokovic was shown the way out of the tournament.
Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 seed in the men’s draw, was disqualified from the U.S. Open after accidentally striking a lineswoman with a ball hit in frustration. https://t.co/ecmAMI2Gmd
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 6, 2020
The world number 1 tried hard to convince the ground umpire and said that he didn’t intend to hurt anyone.
He also apparently said that she doesn’t have to ‘go to the hospital’.
None of those arguments worked, because ‘intention’ is only one of the parameters considered before handing suspension to a player. And rightfully so.
Here’s the thing, express intent *does not* matter.
The rules are clear. There is
1) intent OR
2) recklessness OR
3) negligence.This was a case of negligent disregard and, as such, doesn’t need explicit intent, as you might normally define it. https://t.co/F0OTv81eob pic.twitter.com/eb2h1uzfLF
— Ash Marshall (@AMarshallSport) September 6, 2020
Obviously, this is as controversial as things can get, and the news has been trending all over the world since last night. Here are some of the reactions:
Novak Djokovic has been defaulted from 2020 US Open.
Lesson:
-Staying calm is highly important even if you are already at the top-Never led your disappointment turn into Anger
-Just a second of reaction has power to change your life for good or bad
Courtesy: SM pic.twitter.com/IQ9WWYasRZ
— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) September 7, 2020
Now, this was more or less Djokovic’s US Open, considering both Nadal and Federer are not participating. With the Serbian’s disqualification, the other two tennis legends’ names started trending too.
#Djokovic has always been a man of contradictions. Desperate to be loved like Federer & Nadal – and capable of acting like tonight #USOpen
— Neil McLeman (@NeilMcLeman) September 6, 2020
The last Grand Slam without any of Djokovic, Federer or Nadal in the semifinals was the 2004 French Open. Those semifinalists:
Guillermo Coria
Gaston Gaudio
Tim Henman
David Nalbandian pic.twitter.com/yJ3PrRhYwR— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) September 6, 2020
And so the streak of the Big 3 — Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic — comes to an end in a bizarre way. Novak has been defaulted. Roger & Rafa aren’t playing.
No other player has won a major since 2016.
This trio won 56 of the last 67 majors since Wimbledon in 2003. https://t.co/ZWuWLLCmN4
— Brit McCandless Farmer (@thebritfarmer) September 6, 2020
Meanwhile Djokovic has issued an apology on Instagram, stating again that what he did was unintentional.
Too much to unpack here but the bottom line is, that rules don’t change for anyone.
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As far as the predictability of this is concerned, Djokovic and recklessness have been going hand-in-hand for a while, so who’s surprised?