Novak Djokovic’s aggressive actions during Sunday’s match in the US Open 2020 disqualified him from the tournament. Djokovic was frustrated during his match against Pablo Carreño Busta and hit a line referee with a ball he hit in anger. The rulebook describes guidelines for deliberately hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly, and therefore seed No. 1 was disqualified from the tournament.
Retired tennis legend John McEnroe, known for his temperament on the court, had a lot to say about the incident. He believes this is something that follows Djokovic around for the rest of his career.
Here’s what McEnroe said, via ESPN:
“The pressure came straight to him, I think. I think a lot has happened off the field, it’s clearly affected him. And now, whether he likes it or not, he’s going to be the bad guy the rest of his career. It will be interesting to see how he handles it. “
He added that Djokovic could jump back from this, but if he does, it will likely require him to accept the role of the bad guy.
“I did not say he could not recover. If he embraces that role, I think he could recover, absolutely,” McEnroe said.
The 61-year-old pointed out that even though this is a black eye on his career, Djokovic may still go down as one of the best ever. It’s just a matter of how he mentally handles the rest of his career, McEnroe said.
“He’s chasing the story, he’s trying to pass Rafa and Roger, we all know he’s younger. He obviously has a lot of things going for him, but this is obviously a stain he will not be able to erase. , whether he likes it or not, ”McEnroe said.“ It’s emotional how he wants to handle it. It’s not about the physical part, and about him getting older. “
After the incident, Djokovic apologized and said, “This whole situation has left me really sad and empty.”
It’s just the latest event that makes Djokovic look like “the bad guy.” He recently announced publicly that he intended to try to form a tennis players association, and other stars such as Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal all came up against the idea. Earlier this year, Djokovic tested positive for COVID-19 after organizing and playing in the Adria Tour series in Croatia and Serbia. No social distance measures were enforced during these struggles,
