Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic exited the US Open in the most bizarre fashion after he was defaulted as a ball he struck had hit the line judge in the throat. While the shot was absolutely not intentional, the official was down for a while catching up her breath. The World No.1 was in action against Pablo Carreno Busta. Djokovic also did not attend any post-match interaction but did take to social media to apologise for what had happened.
"This whole situation has left me really sad and empty," Djokovic wrote.
"I checked on the lines person 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 behavior. 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."
