No Djok-ing around, Novak Djokovic ejected from US Open

[pRICE cUBE]

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/2...judge-ball

NEW YORK -- Top-seeded Novak Djokovic was defaulted from his fourth-round match on Sunday at the US Open after a tennis ball he hit in anger struck a line judge in the neck.

As he walked to the Arthur Ashe Stadium sideline for a changeover, trailing Pablo Carreno Busta 6-5 in the first set, Djokovic -- who was seeded and ranked No. 1 and an overwhelming favorite for the championship -- angrily smacked a ball behind him. The ball flew right at the line judge, who dropped to her knees at the back of the court and reached for her neck.

The USTA went on to say that Djokovic forfeits the ranking points and $250,000 in prize money that he earned in the tournament, "in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident."

[Carnos Jax]

I'm actually not a big fan of Djokovic. But, he didn't deliberately aim at anyone with that fit of anger. Most players have done something similar (or engaged in other acts of anger) which didn't harm anyone (though only by chance). Does the fact that this instance did harm someone unintentionally, warrant the punishment? Maybe it does, I don't know for sure, though my first inclination is no.

[Wags]

Wow. Big price to pay for a momentary fit of anger.

[C(-)ris]

Carnos Jax wrote:
I'm actually not a big fan of Djokovic. But, he didn't deliberately aim at anyone with that fit of anger. Most players have done something similar (or engaged in other acts of anger) which didn't harm anyone (though only by chance). Does the fact that this instance did harm someone unintentionally, warrant the punishment? Maybe it does, I don't know for sure, though my first inclination is no.

If I was going to guess, I think the punishment for doing it intentionally would probably be more like a 1 year or longer ban.

[davester]

The rules are the rules. The judges had no choice.

[Yoyodyne ArtWorks]

Earlier in the match he bashed a ball towards the side of the court, where several camera people were. It hit some metal panels and made a loud noise, so you would think he would have felt embarrassed by that.

Nope.

[btfc]

I heard that earlier, and was wondering what his reaction to his punishment was; he seems to be handling it with class.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sp...i=BB15ms5q

[RgrF]

Under today's pro tennis rules, John McEnroe never would have advanced out of Juniors.

[Carnos Jax]

C(-)ris wrote:
If I was going to guess, I think the punishment for doing it intentionally would probably be more like a 1 year or longer ban.

davester wrote:
The rules are the rules. The judges had no choice.

Yoyodyne ArtWorks wrote:
Earlier in the match he bashed a ball towards the side of the court, where several camera people were. It hit some metal panels and made a loud noise, so you would think he would have felt embarrassed by that.

Nope.

Makes sense.

RgrF wrote:
Under today's pro tennis rules, John McEnroe never would have advanced out of Juniors.

Ain't that the truth!

[NewtonMP2100]

.....one Rule......to rule them all......