“He hit it pretty hard” Novak Djokovic believes Stefanos Tsitsipas was ‘lucky’ to escape punishment after purposefully hitting the ball in the crowd
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Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Top seed at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, Novak Djokovic, recently reflected on the Stefanos Tsitsipas incident during the third round matches at the Grand Slam when the Greek purposefully smashed the ball in the crowd. Stef narrowly missed a spectator with a direct shot but the force on the ball was enough to take a rebound and hit someone on its way back.
Stef was lucky enough to not get himself disqualified from the match despite his opponent and eventual winner of the match Nick Kyrgios asking the chair umpire on what grounds was Stef allowed to continue playing. Kyrgios gave the example of Novak’s situation in the 2020 US Open when he accidentally hit a lineswoman but was defaulted and had to lose all the prize money and ranking points of that year’s event as a result of his negligence.
Also Read: WATCH: Novak Djokovic takes son Stefan on a piggyback ride after a fun practice session in Wimbledon
“I’m ashamed and repent when I make such a mistake”: Novak Djokovic on default
While Djokovic did not hit the ball purposefully, Stef quite certainly did smash the ball towards the section of fans after a poor streak of losing points and was annoyed over his own failure. While Djokovic did certainly have sympathy for Stef for being in that position, he also did mention that it was his luck that saw him continue playing the whole match.
“What happened to me at the US Open almost happened to Tsitsipas. He was lucky not to hit anyone directly in the audience, although the ball bounced off the wall and then hit someone in the audience – because he hit it pretty hard. I’ve had that situation in the past – and I know how frustrating it is on the field.
“On the other hand, I am also ashamed and repent when I make such a mistake – and I apologize to the tennis world because I know that such behaviour is not appropriate. I hope that Tsitsipas also realizes that it was a mistake and that he was very lucky – risking that he was in a situation of injuring someone and being disqualified from the match,” said Djokovic as per Serbian media outlet SportKlub.
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Sarthak Shitole
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