Novak Djokovic experienced an unpleasant déjà vu on Monday in his fourth-round match against Karen Khachanov at Roland Garros. Just like last month at the US Open, the Serb hit a ball in the face of a line judge, but this time went free.
In early September in the eighth finals of the US Open, Djokovic was still disqualified because of the same offense. The difference with now is that the number one in the world at the time consciously knocked the ball out of frustration after he lost his service game.
Against Khachanov at Roland Garros, Djokovic made an extreme attempt in the eighth game of the first set to return the service of the 24-year-old Russian. The ball landed on the frame of his racket and flew into the face of the line judge on the side.
“My God, it was a very uncomfortable déjà vu”, Djokovic admitted after his victory over the 24-year-old Russian in Paris. “I’m going to try to find the line judge and see if he’s okay, because I saw a red spot on his head.”
“Let’s hope he is doing well. He was brave and strong with it, but I can imagine the ball hit hard. It was very close.”
‘This has happened to a lot of tennis players’
Since there was no intention whatsoever, Djokovic did not have to fear disqualification at Roland Garros. “Because of the incident in New York, there are probably people who think this is the story of the game, but this has happened to many more players,” said 33-year-old Djokovic.
“I have been active on the ATP Tour for fifteen years now and during that period I have often seen someone in the audience or a linesman being hit by a ball bouncing off the frame of the racket. I am not the first.”
The Paris incident comes a few days after Djokovic called for line judges at all tournaments in the world to be replaced with the Hawk-Eye system as soon as possible. The seventeen-time Grand Slam winner thinks the use of line judges is no longer of this time.
Djokovic eventually won the match against Khachanov 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3 and is still without a set loss at the Grand Slam tournament. In fact, it was only the first time that he gave away more than four games in a set. In the quarterfinals, the 2016 Roland Garros winner awaits a duel with Pablo Carreño Busta.
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