THE acrylic surface of the Arthur Ashe stadium at Flushing Meadows was shining spotless blue on September 7, 2020. Men’s pre-quarter-final match of the US Open tennis tournament was being played in the New York City. Stadium was packed as the 6’2” athletic man on court was Novac Djokovic, the world No.1 tennis icon from Serbia who held the trophy thrice before. On the other side was the 20th seed from Spain by the name Pablo Carreno Busta. Only a few gave Busta any chance against the phenomenal Serbian who had already sent nine powerful aces whizzing past his opponent. Success rate on first service was also tilted in favour of the superstar. Djokovic’s service returns that day as also his double-fisted backhand slices were electrifying as usual. However, fortune was perhaps not in his favour as he failed to convert even a single break-point out of the total 4 he got. Furthermore, at 5-games-all in the first set, he conceded his service to Busta! The Spanish man was readying to serve against his illustrious opponent at an advantageous position of 6-games-to-5, when an unusual thing happened. Frustrated at his own mistakes, Djokovic smacked a stray ball backwards. Flying from his racquet, the ball caught a line judge unaware and struck on her neck hard. Although it was not intentional, the impact was so sharp and sudden that the lady fell on her knees and started grimacing in pain.

 

Djokovic along with other officials immediately ran towards the lady. They helped her to stand up, who still was in a shock. When she felt a bit better, Djokovic apologetically put his hand around her neck and said: “I am extremely sorry, Ma’am. It was so wrong on my part to smack the ball recklessly!” As he returned to court, the match umpire called him and mentioned the rule position. The Serbian accepted his mistake without any hesitation but repeatedly vouched that he did not do it with purpose, which, otherwise was also evident. The umpire deliberated the matter with tournament referee Mr. Soeren Friemel and mulled to invoke Point Penalty Schedule, in which a point or at best a game is taken away from the offender. However, since the injury could have caused a disastrous consequence and the ball was not on play, the USTA (United States Tennis Association) officials considered it a critical violation of code of conduct and under Article-III (Section N) of the Grand Slam rules, they declared a ‘Default’ on Djokovic which meant he would lose all his ranking points and would be fined 100% of $2,50,000 prize money he earned upto that stage!

 

The whole arena stood up in a hushed silence as the world No. 1 and top seed left the court with profound frustration and disbelief etched on his face. But a rule is a rule, and should be applicable to everyone. The match was awarded to Busta as walk-over. Djokovic later posted an unconditional apology to the line judge in his Instagram account. He also expressed ‘sorry’ to the stunned spectators and his disappointed fans all over the world. Eventually, Carreno Busta was defeated in the semi final of the tournament by Alexander Zverev of Germany and Dominic Theim of Austria won the US Open that year overpowering Zverev in a 5-setter cliffhanger. Who knows, Djokovic could have grinned once more with the champion’s trophy in hand, but for that unusual accident on court!