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A moment that took less than half a second has set the tennis world on fire this morning after Novak Djokovic was defaulted from the US Open last night at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York.
After being broken to trail 6–5 to 20th seed Pablo Carreño Busta, he absent-mindedly hit a ball off court but looked on in horror as it hit a female line judge in the throat. She collapsed to the ground. Although Djokovic ran over and asked about her welfare, his fate was sealed.
Chair Umpire Aurelie Tourte consulted tournament referee Soeren Friemel and Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli. After roughly ten minutes of discussion, Djokovic was disqualified and out of the US Open. He becomes the first player to be defaulted from a Grand Slam tournament for 20 years.
In 2000, Austrian Stefan Koubek threw his racket and hit a ballboy in a match against Hungary’s Attila Sávolt in the second round of the French Open. Koubek however had already received three warnings for coaching and unsportsmanlike conduct in that match. Bizarrely, his nickname is Cooley!
ESPN reported Sunday evening that the line umpire has a bruise on her throat and is resting comfortably at the officials’ hotel.
Djokovic admitted guilt and did not try to defend is actions in a subsequent statement which included the words “I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being.”
Djokovic skipped his press conference and left the facility but his opponent Busta was conciliatory in his post match press after his default win.
“I don’t think any one of us do these kind of things intentionally…I think it was bad luck. You never want to see this but of course I think Novak never never wanted to hit the line umpire.”
In a statement, the USTA clarified the decision:
“In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences, the U.S. Open tournament referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 U.S. Open.”
Reactions from tennis experts fell mostly on the side of the USTA decision.
Anne-Marie Batson is a tennis broadcaster for the BBC. She was in no doubt as to the correctness of the decision:
“Accident or not. Intent or not isn’t the factor. Yes players hits balls (personally I wish they wouldn’t unless in play).
“It’s when a person is hit…in this case a line judge.“If a player hit a ball which strikes an official, the player walks.”
Those who played and still coach the game seemed to agree with her.
Brad Gilbert has coached Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray amongst others. He tweeted:
“He deserved to be defaulted.”
Legend Billie Jean King was among those who did not condemn the Serb in the way many others had, but still agreed with the decision.
Here are my thoughts on the Novak Djokovic default.
First I hope the line judge is okay.
The rule is the rule. It is unfortunate for everyone involved, but in this specific situation the default was the right call. #USOpen
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 6, 2020
Almost every high-performance player I train does what Novak did in firing the ball. I tell them to stop it, and break the habit for this exact reason, they eventually hit someone and it won't be good. Yes, Novak deserved it https://t.co/3z4GZs3bcT
— Tim Mayotte (@TimMayotte) September 6, 2020
One man who knows more than most about bad on court behaviour is John McEnroe. The fiery New Yorker was disqualified at the 1990 Australian Open in Melbourne for misconduct against Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors, at the time the first such default at a Grand Slam tournament for 27 years.
Leading Pernfors 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4 in the round of 16. McEnroe was disqualified by chair umpire Gerry Armstrong after breaking a racket amid a trademark stream of expletives.
Five Tennis Disqualifications – World Tennis Magazine
According to reports at the time, the Australian crowd of 15,000 rose to their feet, booing and chanting their support for McEnroe. The last player before him to be disqualified from a Grand Slam for misconduct had been Colombian-born Spaniard Willie Alvarez at the 1963 French Open.
“I guess it was bound to happen!” quipped McEnroe in his post-match press conference.
But despite his own personal history, McEnroe agreed with the decision:
“It was a rookie mistake … by him to not look and hit a ball back where he wasn’t even looking where he was hitting it.”
Some fans disagreed with the experts though and accused the authorities of inconsistency.
Many of those who defended Djokovic did seem to quote a double standard and compared the decision to situations where other players have received a lesser punishment.
Most commonly those critics quoted Roger Federer or Serena Williams as examples but often it seemed a dislike of those players and an opportunity to recall their transgressions from another time was their motive for defending Djokovic.
This is a disgrace for the tennis and the US open.. There is no way they'd apply the same judgement for this non-intentional action against Fedal, let alone Serena in New York! He has been disqualified on purpose..
— Bayonne (@Bayonne59552234) September 6, 2020
Others defending the number one seed pointed out that it was accidental and that the line judge over reacted, but neither fact is relevant to the rules as they apply to all players in the tournament.
One thing is for sure. The US Open will have a new champion this year as Djokovic and Andy Murray and are no longer in the tournament.
Rafael Nadal, Federer and 2016 Champion Stan Wawrinka did not enter due to the health situation in New York.
With all previous champions now out, the new Champion will be the first new winner since 2014. The disqualification also breaks Djokovic’s streak of 26 winning matches this year.
Second seed Dominic Thiem and third seed Daniil Medvedev are now the favourites. Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was eliminated in the third round by Borna Coric.
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