New York: World number one and the title favourite for the US Open 2020 Novak Djokovic was sensationally defaulted from the Grand Slam event on Sunday after hitting a line judge with a ball during his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta.
The three-time champion had just dropped serve, shortly after falling heavily on his left shoulder, when he smacked the ball behind him.
While the shot wasn't intentional, the official was down for a while. The Serb was in action against Pablo Carreno Busta.
The female line judge dropped to her knees at the back of the court, clearly distressed after being hit in the throat by the ball.
After pleading his case for several minutes with officials on the court, including tournament referee Soeren Friemel, Djokovic walked over to shake hands with Carreno Busta after being defaulted.
Novak Djokovic in numbers. In a further blow, Djokovic will lose all ranking points and prize money earned at the tournament this year.
After getting defaulted Djokovic didn't attend the post-match interaction but he did take to social media to apologise.
"This whole situation has left me really sad and empty," Djokovic wrote. "I checked on the linesperson and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling ok. I'm extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong. I'm not disclosing her name to respect her privacy. As for the disqualification, I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being," he added.
"I apologize to the @usopen tournament and everyone associated for my behaviour. I'm very grateful to my team and family for being my rock support, and my fans for always being there with me. Thank you and I'm so sorry," he wrote further.
The USTA (United States Tennis Association) issued a statement and said: "In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences, the US Open tournament referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 US Open. Because he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all ranking points earned at the US Open and will be fined the prize money won at the tournament in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident."
