Novak Djokovic Out of U.S. Open After Accidental Hit of Line Judge

Djokovic, the No. 1 ranked men’s tennis player in the world, and the top seed at this year’s pandemic-adjusted major in New York, was disqualified from his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreño Busta Sunday after he hit a tennis ball which struck a line judge, apparently inadvertently.

In a stunner, Novak Djokovic is out of the U.S. Open.

The ruling removes Djokovic from the competition and brings an end to the 33-year-old Serbian’s Open, as well as his undefeated 2020 season. Djokovic entered Sunday’s match 26-0 on the year.

The incident occurred late in the first set, after Djokovic had his serve broken to fall behind, 6-5. He hit the ball with his racket as he walked off the court for a changeover, which then struck the line judge, who fell to the court.

Video replay showed Djokovic raising an arm in surprise after the ball hit the judge, and going over behind the baseline as the judge was attended to on the court.

A contrite Djokovic offered an apology via his

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This whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling ok. I‘m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong. I’m not disclosing her name to respect her privacy. As for the disqualification, 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. I apologize to the @usopen tournament and everyone associated for my behavior. I’m very grateful to my team and family for being my rock support, and my fans for always being there with me. Thank you and I’m so sorry. Cela ova situacija me čini zaista tužnim i praznim. Proverio sam kako se oseća linijski sudija, i prema informacijama koje sam dobio, oseća se dobro, hvala Bogu. Njeno ime ne mogu da otkrijem zbog očuvanja njene privatnosti. Jako mi je žao što sam joj naneo takav stres. Nije bilo namerno. Bilo je pogrešno. Želim da ovo neprijatno iskustvo, diskvalifikaciju sa turnira, pretvorim u važnu životnu lekciju, kako bih nastavio da rastem i razvijam se kao čovek, ali i teniser. Izvinjavam se organizatorima US Opena. Veoma sam zahvalan svom timu i porodici što mi pružaju snažnu podršku, kao i mojim navijačima jer su uvek uz mene. Hvala vam i žao mi je. Bio je ovo težak dan za sve.

A post shared by Novak Djokovic (@djokernole) on Sep 6, 2020 at 3:58pm PDT

A contrite Djokovic offered an apology via his Instagram account on Sunday evening.

“This whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling ok. I‘m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong,” the post said.

“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. I apologize to the [U.S. Open] tournament and everyone associated for my behavior,” he added.

The U.S. Tennis Association explained its ruling: “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.

Because he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all ranking points earned at the U.S. Open and will be fined the prize money won at the tournament in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident.”

“We all agreed he didn’t do it on purpose, but the facts are still that he hit the line umpire,” the Open’s tournament referee, Soeren Friemel, said a post-match press conference Sunday evening. “And the line umpire was clearly hurt.”

“I think that it was bad luck,” his opponent, Carreño Busta, said afterward.

For Djokovic, it is a sudden twist in what has been a disjointed season. The 17-time major champion played great tennis to begin the year, capturing the Australian Open in early February.

But the pandemic shut much of the rest of the year down. Djokovic’s attempt at a charitable exhibition tournament in Serbia and Croatia wound up getting shut down after players tested positive for Covid-19, including Djokovic himself.

In New York, Djokovic had appeared to relocate his tennis form. In late August he won the relocated-from-Cincinnati Western & Southern tournament in New York as a tuneup to the Open, and he had also been a high-profile advocate for the Professional Tennis Players Association, a new negotiating group of men’s tennis players.

Djokovic’s departure—at a tournament that didn’t include Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer—means there will be a first-time men’s major champion at this year’s Open. None of the remaining field, which includes Austria’s Dominic Thiem and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, has won a major in their career.

Thiem and Medvedev don’t face an easy road. On Monday, the second-seeded Thiem will square off against No. 15 seed Felix Auger Aliassime, who was electric in the tournament’s opening week. Medvedev, a finalist last year, faces Frances Tiafoe, the last remaining U.S. men’s player in the singles draw.