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.
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.
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:
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.
Meanwhile Djokovic has issued an apology on Instagram, stating again that what he did was unintentional.