Novak Djokovic’s bad tempered incident during Saturday’s Doha final has driven criticism from fellow rival Nick Kyrgios.
Playing against top seed Andy Murray, a momentary lapse in clear thinking by the former world No.1 saw him smash a ball on the court, which ended up hitting a woman. Djokovic managed to escape a severe punishment after the umpire issued him a warning. Later on in the match, he received a second warning and a point deduction for smashing his racking on the ground.
“I definitely didn’t want to hit the ball at anybody,” Djokovic said about the incident. “Just happened. Fortunate not to get a bigger fine. I have to be more careful I guess. I accept that I made a mistake. It was not intentional at all.”
For those who did not see, here is the moment where Nole picked up a warning in set one. #ATP pic.twitter.com/pYB7g3fBzn
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) 7 January 2017
Djokovic’s controversial antic on his way to his the Doha title has raised the eyebrows of Australian player Kyrgios. Throughout his career, Kyrgios has been involved in a series of controversies. His more recent resulted in a three-week suspension from the ATP Tour for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’. He was slammed with the penalty following his somewhat substandard performance against Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters.
I would’ve been defaulted and suspended until 2025 😂 https://t.co/HsIoG9IOAL
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) 8 January 2017
Kygios’ latest rant on social media was nothing more than a joke, but it does raise a valid point. In 1995 Tim Henman was defaulted at the Wimbledon Championships for inadvertently hitting a ball that struck a ball girls face. Then in 2012 David Nalbandian was defaulted at the Aegon Championships for kicking the border surrounding a lineman, which snapped off and hit him.
Neither organisers in Doha or Djokovic has revealed what the value of his fine was.
What the ATP rulebook says
Ball Abuse
i) Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw
a tennis ball while on the grounds of the tournament site except in the
reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up). For
purposes of this rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally or recklessly
hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously
or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with disregard of the
consequences.
ii) Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine of up to $350 for
each violation. In addition, if such violation occurs during a match, the
player shall be penalized in accordance with the Point Penalty Schedule.
