Many tennis fans think Novak Djokovic was fortunate not to be defaulted for hitting a spare ball in frustration during his fourth round match at Wimbledon.
Chasing his 25th Grand Slam title, the Serbian star beat Roman Safiullin 7-6(8-6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Centre Court.
But an argument has been made about a possible default during the clash, when Djokovic let out his frustration by smashing a spare ball waywardly after slipping to 2-4 in the third set.
The incident drew immediate boos from the Wimbledon crowd, with many other fans now sharing their disappointment and anger on social media.
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Tennis fans think Novak Djokovic could have been defaulted at Wimbledon
Sharing a strong verdict on X, one fan commented: “How does Djokovic not learn? That totally could’ve been a default.
“He got defaulted at the US Open, he almost got defaulted at the Australian Open and now he hit another ball out of frustration. Stop.”
A second said of the Serbian veteran: “He can win as many Slams as he wants but he’ll always be classless.”
Other fans commented: “Wild behavior,” “Should have been a second code violation, for sure,” and “Quite possibly the goat but will never escape the notion of being unlikable.”
Another concurred: “He’s the best ever but he’s also a hothead. And that’s why he’s not as beloved as others.”
And other shocked fans wrote: “Wow I’m speechless,” and “Dude been veteran for so long and is still acting like that, oh Nole.”
Of course, it would not have been the first disqualification for the legendary ATP player at a Grand Slam tournament.
He made a similar error of judgement at the 2020 US Open, but back then his ball struck a line judge and the top seed was defaulted by tournament officials.
Novak Djokovic not proud of Wimbledon ‘meltdown’ on Centre Court
Importantly for Djokovic, he was not defaulted for the incident, and labelled such moments afterwards as “meltdowns” in his on-court speech.
He also apologized on Centre Court, but was unsurprisingly tasked with discussing such incidents further in his press conference.
When asked how much they fire him up and if it helps elevate his game, he said: “Well, I mean, sometimes it helps to kind of just filter things that are building inside.
“Not something I’m proud of when I get warning or something like that, I have a meltdown. Not something I’m looking for, for sure.
“But when it happens, it happens. Just try to eliminate it, not think about it too long, move on to the next point and the next task at hand.”
The next task at hand now involves the small matter of another quarterfinal at Wimbledon, where he will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Canadian third seed, who just beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in five sets, has a 1-1 ATP head-to-head record with seventh seed Djokovic.
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