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‘Djokovic as unlucky as you can get,’ says former world number one after US Open defaulting drama


The US Open were absolutely right to default Novak Djokovic after he accidentally struck a line judge with a ball, says former world number one Mats Wilander.

Drama unfolded on Arthur Ashe after Djokovic was broken at 5-5 in the first set.

In frustration, the world number one hit his spare ball away to the back of the court, unintentionally hitting the official around the neck area.

“You are not allowed to do that,” Eurosport tennis expert Wilander said.

“It’s as much bad luck as you can have on a tennis court. He didn’t just roll the ball back to the ball kid, that’s the bottom line.

“He hit it harder than he intended to, obviously a complete accident. It was a sign of frustration, yes. A little bit. But it doesn’t matter, you are not allowed to do it.

“We should also hope the linesperson is okay, it looked like she could hardly breathe. I’ve seen the replay now, and it is a pretty obvious default and there is nothing you can do.

“The only thing I’d question is why the umpire didn’t look at a video tape before making a decision, but there’s no question that is a default.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.