By: Cassidy Pate

Top ranked male singles tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, was disqualified from the US Open for doing something he should’ve known was very wrong. 

Djokovic was playing a match against Pavlocarreno Busta, a player from Spain, when he couldn’t hit the ball and lost a point. When this happened, Djokovic got upset and decided to hit a ball away from the court out of anger. When he hit the ball, it ended up hitting one of the line judges in the throat. Right when this happened, she collapsed to the ground and he noticed. He ran over to her immediately to see if she was okay. Medics ran over to attend to her and make sure nothing bad happened. 

Earlier in the match he angrily hit another ball that bounced off the wall. Djokovic asked to stay in the match because the line judge was not seriously injured. He ended up being kicked out of the game for ball abuse and unsportsmanlike conduct.

After this, he was disqualified, and lost his chance at a 18th Grand Slam title, and a chance to take home 3 million dollars in prize money. The line judge he hit also couldn’t return to the game, as she was injured and they didn’t want to risk anything else happening. Djokovic has been fined a total $270,000 for everything that has happened.

Djokovic said. “This whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I’m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong.” Obviously he feels bad about hurting the line judge, but I’m sure that he’s still mad about being disqualified. He also said he’s “turning this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being.” He is making it sound like he is taking this the right way, but is he really? Are we sure he will change after this? Should we believe him when he says he is using this as a life lesson ?

Djokovic’s fans have actually been taking their frustration out on the line judge. He asked his fans to back down saying “She’s done nothing wrong at all.” and “I ask you to stay especially supportive and caring to her during this time”

Djokovic has  been in a lot of hot water lately. During June he hosted a charity tennis tournament with fans and there was no social distancing. Djokovic and other players were also seen out partying very up close and personal. He, his wife, and three other players all tested positive for Covid-19 after this. He admitted that they were wrong for that, but who knows how many people who attended the charity tournament also caught Covid-19. 

As Novak Djokovic is the top male singles tennis player in the world, you would think he would be privy to the heightened public awareness of his actions and act accordingly. Perhaps time will tell, but these two incidents don’t bode well for his image.