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‘Novak Djokovic was unlucky to be disqualified at US Open,’ says Roger Federer


Roger Federer has come to the defence of Novak Djokovic, saying his US Open disqualification was simple bad luck.

Djokovic was defaulted from the competition after striking a female line-judge with a spare ball after being broken by Pablo Carreno Busta in New York.

It came after his ill-fated Adria Tour was abandoned due to a coronavirus outbreak, meaning it was a tough summer for world number one in which he received a great deal of public criticism.

Federer, however, who missed the US Open due to injury, says criticism of Djokovic was unwarranted.

“At the US Open he was just unlucky,” Federer said. “Everyone knows that.

“Of course you have to control yourself. But that can happen to almost anyone.

“Did he mean well with the Adriatic Tour? Was it too early for that? Yes, probably.”

Federer and Djokovic appeared to be openly at loggerheads too over the Serbian’s decision to set up the PTPA – an independent player’s union.

“I haven’t seen Novak in a long time,” Federer said. “He does his best for the players.

“It just didn’t fit when he was president of the players’ association (ATP Players Council) and founded the new organization at the same time.

“You don’t always have to be of the same opinion. But it is important that you exchange ideas together.

“The negative background noises are of course not ideal for tennis. In the meantime everything has calmed down a bit.

“There is talk of results and records again. That’s a good thing.

“We will see, what’s going on with the players’ association, the PTPA and the ATP. I’m not here in Doha to do politics. My focus is on my comeback.”


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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.