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With the French Open scheduled to begin at the end of the month, the world’s number one still has a chance to increase his all-time tally during this reduced season, but has the Serb tarnished his reputation?
Seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe, famous for his outbursts on the court, believes the incident will have an impact.
“I didn’t say he couldn’t recover,” McEnroe added. “If he accepts that role, I think he could recover, absolutely. He’s chasing history, he’s trying to get past Rafa.” [Nadal] and Roger [Federer].
“He is younger, we all know it. He has many things going for him, but obviously this is a stain that he will not be able to erase, whether he likes it or not.”
Djokovic left Flushing Meadows without speaking to the media, but wrote an apology on his Instagram account, saying he was “very sorry to have caused him so much stress.”
McEnroe knows full well how difficult it is to shed a reputation as a “bad boy” in tennis and wondered what reception Djokovic would receive when he returns to Grand Slam action at the French Open in Paris.
“It’s about how he will deal with this in the future,” he said. “What kind of reaction will you get from the other players? What kind of reaction will you get when the fans start to return to the sports arenas?”
“These are all problems you don’t know the answers to. I’m amazed, amazed that he did something so shameless in a situation where he was the big favorite.”
Kyrgios starts survey on Twitter
Nick Kyrgios, often dubbed the “bad boy” of today’s tennis generation, wryly posted a poll on Twitter asking what his punishment would have been in the same situation.
“Trade me for jokers [Djokovic’s] incident. “Accidentally hitting the ball boy in the throat” for how many years would they ban me? “, I ask.
Five, 10, and 20 years were the options, with 20 winning by a considerable margin at the time of this writing.
“We would get you out of jail right now,” replied American player Tommy Paul.
Former British tennis player Tim Henman, who was disqualified in similar circumstances when he struck a ball at Wimbledon in 1995, believed Djokovic made a mistake by not facing the media after the incident.
“Unfortunately, you are compounding the error,” he told Prime. “You need to face it, apologize, and accept that you made a mistake. In essence, by running away, it’s going to last longer.”
Billie Jean King, a 12-time Grand Slam winner, said officials made the right decision.
“First I hope the linesman is okay,” he tweeted. “The rule is the rule. It is unfortunate for everyone involved, but in this specific situation, the default decision was the correct one.”
Djokovic was undefeated so far in 2020, with a 26-0 record in Sunday’s game against Pablo Carreño Busta. Former tennis player Steve Darcis jokingly gave credit to the only person who could break Djokovic’s winning run: the linesman.
