LONDON: Novak Djokovic has described the use of VAR technology at the FIFA World Cup as ‘refreshing’ following a mishap involving his country.
Many Serbian fans expressed anger on Friday evening after one of their players wasn’t awarded a penalty during their clash with Switzerland. Aleksandar Mitrovic was denied a penalty by the referee following a challenge from two Swiss players. Video replays showed that Mitrovic was blatantly being held back inside the box. Prompting the national association to launch an official complaint to FIFA.
“I wasn’t in a great mood last night, but I thought they played well during the first part of the game. After that, it was all Switzerland.” Djokovic said about Serbia’s 2-1 loss.
“Things could have been different if we had a penalty there. I don’t know why referee didn’t decide to review it on the technology.”
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German referee, Felix Brych, decided to play on and did not refer to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Which has been implemented in this year’s World Cup to prevent such scenarios. Despite some criticizing the system, 12-time grand slam champion Djokovic believe the use of technology in football has been a long time coming.
“I thought the technology was used pretty well so far (in the World Cup). I mean, maybe there were situations like this (decision against Serbia), where the referee should have decided at least see it.” He said.
“I thought there were some big decisions in the World Cup that were made, changed because of technology. I think that’s something that was expected already more than 10 years ago in football, and I don’t know why they waited for so long, but it’s refreshing to see it” Djokovic later added.
Djokovic might have wished VAR was in use during his semi-final match against Jeremy Chardy at the Fever-tree Championships. During the second set he lost a point after touching the net. Although the world No.22 was convinced that the ball bounced twice before he did. A video replay showed that the ball didn’t.
“I guess he (the umpire) was right, then.” Djokovic joked when told about the replay.
“He said my left foot touched the net. My left foot was not even close to the net. That’s why I was arguing a little bit. I was very close to the net, so he was probably right.”
Djokovic will play Marin Cilic in the final of Queen’s on Sunday.
