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Disqualification! Novak Djokovic walks away. Image: keystone
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Djokovic’s US Open disqualification: a symbol of what goes wrong in tennis
Novak Djokovic already damaged tennis with his tour of the Adriatic during the corona pandemic. His disqualification from the US Open is the sad low point of a drama with advance notice. A comment.
After he had to give up serve in the first set against Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta at the score of 5: 5 in the round of 16 of the US Open, Novak Djokovic hit a ball in the direction of the stands, frustrated, and hit a linesman who collapsed and fell. Looking for breath. Discussions with the highest referee, the German Sören Friemel, continued. Djokovic asked for a point deduction. He could have lived well with a sentence removed.
But the rules did not leave room for maneuver. Djokovic, the 17-time Grand Slam-winning favorite to win the US Open, was disqualified. It didn’t matter that Djokovic didn’t act deliberately.
It is very rare in tennis for a player to be disqualified. It will not be forgotten how John McEnroe was disqualified against Mikael Pernfors in the fourth round of the 1990 Australian Open. However, the drama had been announced at the time, McEnroe had previously been warned twice. Djokovic was the first convicting offense. However, the 33-year-old Serb had narrowly escaped disqualification on other occasions. For example, in the quarterfinals of the 2016 French Open, where he threw his racket out of frustration and barely missed a linesman.
Djokovic in conversation with referee Sören Friemel, who had no choice but to exclude the Serbian from the tournament. Image: keystone
The debacle started with the Adriatic Tour
It was only a fraction of a second that decided their fate, but they symbolize the last half of Novak Djokovic. No one knows with absolute certainty what prompted him when he organized a tournament, his Adriatic Tour, in the Balkans at the height of a pandemic. Was it the desire to do good and help people in need, as he himself claimed? Was it the longing for recognition that has not left you since your youth in your war-torn homeland? Or was it just stupidity and ignorance? Whatever his motivation: Djokovic can’t escape the debacle.
The linesman struggles to breathe after Djokovic’s hit. Image: keystone
Since then, a storm has raged over Djokovic that has completely spun out of control. And Djokovic himself did little to calm him down. The opposite was the case. He used the attention that focused on him during the US Open to make it known that he had formed a union. Their demands are widely accepted. But they arrive at the wrong time and divide the players instead of uniting them. The reactions were correspondingly violent. Men’s and women’s tour (ATP, WTA), the World Tennis Federation (ITF) and the four Grand Slam tournaments condemned the procedure in a joint statement. The absent Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also criticized the approach.
All of this may have little to do with disqualification from the US Open, but it marks the lowest point in a drama that has been looming for months. In the absence of defending champion Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, who had beaten Djokovic in two Grand Slam finals (including the US Open in 2016), he could only lose in New York, because it would have been a hit with asterisks. Now Djokovic is not only the big loser, but a symbol of a tournament that caused a sensation in the first week less for the sport than for the grotesque implementation of the quarantine rules.
Novak Djokovic leaves the US Open as a symbol of everything that has gone wrong in tennis in recent months. Image: keystone
Djokovic’s exit through the back door
Before the tournament, Benoit Paire had tested positive for the corona virus and was consequently placed in isolation. Eleven players who had been in close contact with him were quarantined, but were not excluded from the tournament as protocol would have provided. However, some complained that they were treated as “criminals”.
And then the rules of the game changed when New York State stepped in, took over the city, and Adrian Mannarino banned gambling. When Djokovic found out about this, he tried to contact Governor Andrew Cuomo. But apparently he had neither the time nor the desire to speak to the Serb. Djokovic didn’t have a good figure here either.
Due to his disqualification, Novak Djokovic will not receive any prize money or world ranking points. He declined the mandatory press conference and immediately left the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. That will also result in a fine. Djokovic didn’t want to hurt the linesman, he didn’t even want to hit her. But disqualification was the only correct decision. The true greatness of an athlete is shown in defeat. Novak Djokovic is not just a loser in New York. But as a symbol of what has gone wrong in tennis in recent months.
