World number one Novak Djokovic was excluded from the US Open tennis tournament on Sunday, after directing a ball to control a streak during his match against Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta in the fourth round.
Djokovic was angry after his failure to resolve the first set, falling to the ground and losing his serve, to be late 6-5, and hit the ball with great force on the field to collide with the line monitor.
The Serbian player immediately apologized from observing the streak before entering into a long debate with the referee.
# Tennis 🎾
Eliminate Djokovic 🎾 from the US Open tennis final price for directing a ball towards one of the lines referees # USOpen # USOpen2020 pic.twitter.com/4PE7xqudvA
- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 6, 2020
According to the rules of the game, there is no option but to automatic disqualification, despite Djokovic's assertion that he did not intend to hit the ball while observing the streak.
Djokovic shook hands with his opponent, Carreño Busta, and left the field with lumbering steps.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic was defaulted from his fourth-round match at the #USOpen after he accidentally hit a line judge with a tennis ball Sunday.
pic.twitter.com/TTstxZB2Jw
- ESPN (@espn) September 6, 2020
The ending disappointed the first seed's hopes of winning his 18th Grand Slam title, something that was highly likely as the tournament matches went on.
Britain's Tim Henman, who was excluded from Wimbledon due to a similar incident in 1995, told Amazon Prime, "It's the right decision. He didn't mean to hit the ball while observing the streak, but he kicked the ball away and you should be responsible for your actions."