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Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros
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‘It was a very awkward situation – I hope he’s fine,’ says Novak Djokovic after fresh line-judge accident


Novak Djokovic admitted he felt a sense of ‘deja vu’ after he struck another line judge in the face with a ball at the French Open.

The world number one was defaulted at the US Open last month in similarly circumstances, although since this incident happened while the ball was in play it was a very different outcome.

He, though, says he has already sought out the line-judge to make sure he is okay.

“My gosh, it was very awkward deja vu,” Djokovic explained after his 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over Karen Khachanov.

“I’m actually trying to find the linesperson and see if he’s okay because I saw he had a little bit of a bruise, like redness, in that place in the head where the ball hit him.

“I hope he’s fine. I mean, he definitely dealt with it in a very strong and brave way. But it was a hit because I was very close.

“Obviously because of what happened in New York, people I guess are going to make the story out of this.

“It has happened to me and to many other players in the last 15 years that I’ve been on the tour.

“I’ve seen it a lot when the ball ricochets from the racquet and the frame, hits someone in the stands, or someone that is close to you or line umpire. Yeah, it was a very awkward situation.”


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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.