“Disqualification decision was correct” Novak Djokovic believes Alexander Zverev deserved the punishment
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Alexander Zverev smashing his racquet, Novak Djokovic
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has enjoyed his return to the Tour with back-to-back wins to enter the quarter-finals of the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships where he is the top seed. The Serbian returns to action for the first time this season and has so far made a good comeback putting behind all of the drama that took place in Australia last month.
With players either opting to play in Dubai or in Mexico for the ongoing 2022 Acapulco Open as the two events will be the final events in February, a shocking incident took place in Mexico yesterday. World No. 3 and the 2nd seed at the tournament, Alexander Zverev smashed his racquet in frustration on the chair umpire’s stand narrowly missing the umpire’s feet.
The bizarre incident took place after Zverev and his doubles partner Marcelo Melo lost to the lucky loser pair of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara in the first round and the German was quite animated due to a controversial point called by the umpire. Zverev’s actions saw him getting removed from the singles event where he was the defending champion and a massive fine is expected to be served to him for his violent actions.
Speaking about the entire incident, Djokovic gave his point of view and while he did feel sorry for how things turned out, he made it a point that the punishment the German received was not wrong.
“I made mistakes in the past where I’ve had tantrums on the court. I understand what the player is going through. But, of course, I do not justify his actions. He has, with the words that he had in the statement, handled it in the right way. He said he made a mistake and his actions were not appropriate. I think the disqualification decision was, you know, not too harsh. I think it was correct under the circumstances.
“Of course, it is harsh for a player to get disqualified from a tournament. I mean, I know. A year and a half ago I had something I can’t say similar, but I was disqualified from a Grand Slam for unintentionally hitting the line umpire. I realize it is a mistake and I have to take it. Hopefully, he can reflect on that and not let something like that happen ever again in his life. I’m sure he’s going to approach it maturely,” said Djokovic during his press conference.
Novak Djokovic to take on Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals
With his World No. 1 ranking on the line, Djokovic is doing everything that is in his hand. Despite him winning the title in Dubai, if World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev wins in Acapulco, Daniil will replace the Serbian at the top of the rankings. Djokovic however will need to win the title and hope Medvedev does not reach the finals to remain at the top of the rankings.
Djokovic will be taking on Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals in Dubai. Jere currently leads Novak in the head-to-head having defeated him in the second round of the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters winning the match in 3-sets. The pair were supposed to meet again in the 2nd round of the 2016 US Open but Jere had to give a walkover.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)